Wake Me When the Summer Ends
by Depps My Husband
Summary: jude and tommy end a year work of a relationship after his father dies, but it only proves to them what they need out of life. give it a chance.
1. Weatherman

Prologue

Hello, everyone. So here's the first chapter to 'Wake Me When the Summer Ends.' It's basically just an opening to what's to come. You all seem interested in this, so I don't want to let you down. I'm excited to write this story, becuz unlike my other, there aren't going to be anymore seasons, so what's happened has happened, and that ain't gonna change. Anyway, without further ado, here's Chapter One. Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

"_Let me slip away, I'm barely holding on. Every now and then I feel the end of us,"_

"_I love the way you breathe inside my head. But something's gotta change, I'm barely holding on."_

Weatherman

He was tired—run down. It had been a long day; the flight delays on top of the original time between flights being long enough to begin with only prolonging his time to get home. The weatherman was an idiot. Fumbling with his keys in the doorway, he fought to keep his eyes open for his body wanted sleep and wasn't letting him get away without knowing it. Successfully getting his door unlocked and getting inside his apartment, a sigh was released as he tossed his keys on the side table in his entry hall.

The vacation itself had been draining, for he'd just spent the past three months in Montreal visiting his father who had been diagnosed with cancer. It wasn't fatal, but Tommy's father, although absent, had tried to be there for him growing up, and with the chance of him dying, Tommy wasn't going to just turn the other cheek. Jude had been touring, so he flew up to see his old man, spend time with him in case that day came and he had passed, Tommy wouldn't regret on lost time.

Within the last month, his father had seemed more than well. The radiation therapy seeming to work and he couldn't even remember the last time his father had a seizure. Acting and looking healthy, Matthew told Tommy to get back to Toronto and see Jude, knowing his son missed her terribly. He didn't have to be told twice.

With a backpack on his back and a duffle over his shoulder, he felt the extra weight slow him down as he walked the few steps down the hallway, passing the kitchen on his right and giving a quick glance toward the clock on his microwave reading 2:37 am. He was supposed to be home at 10:20 that night.

Overlooking the apartment, he came to a pause, noticing that it wasn't how he'd left it when he went away a few months ago. Nothing big had changed, it was actually cleaner. When he'd left to Montreal papers had been scattered across the coffee table, which now only contained the remote to the television and a neat stack of magazines. Pillows were straightened, and his kitchen table had been cleared off, and there was only one person that came to his mind as to who did it.

Just as her name had came to his mind, a small smile came over his sleepy features as his gaze turned down the hallway at his bedroom door, seeing it barely cracked, and a small light shining through. Readjusting the bag on his shoulder, he began his walk once again, finally to his bedroom. Slowly pushing the door open, another smile came over him as he stood in the doorway, seeing Jude fast asleep in his bed.

He remembered arguing with her before she left for tour to take a copy of the key to his apartment, and she didn't want to. Claimed she wouldn't use it, but apparently she was wrong. Quietly setting the bag down by his dresser, he closed the door with a soft click and started to strip down; removing his backpack and jacket, and toeing off his shoes.

At each action, he checked to make sure he hadn't woken her, yet it seemed nothing could. Stretched out on her stomach in the middle of the bed, she cuddled with his pillow as the covers covered half her body. She was also sleeping in one of his shirts which kept the smile on his face there. Quickly shimmying out of his jeans, he was left in a t-shirt and his boxers, before turning out the lamp on the nightstand and climbing into bed, still careful not to wake her.

Surprisingly he managed to slip his pillow from her grasp, and replace it with himself as he slipped her into his hold. In her sleep, she adjusted to the new form, draping her arm over his chest and snuggling into his side. With his head rested gently on the top of her head, he was finally content, and ready to give in to the sleep his body had been begging for.

"You're home." He heard mumbled into his chest.

Not opening his eyes, he placed his lips on the top of her head, kissing her hair and replying, "And you're in my bed."

Nodding her head slightly she mumbled, "Uh huh. Closest to you I could get." His lips once again kissed her hair, and she smiled before snuggling even closer to him and saying, "I missed you."

"I missed you too, Girl." He said without hesitance. "No more trips. I promise. Not without you."

Agreeing she added, "And no more touring unless you're with me." A yawn escaped her lips as Tommy started to softly run his hand up and down her back. Turning her head ever so slightly, she placed her lips on his chest and kissed him. "I love you."

Nuzzling his head on hers, Tommy gently told her, "I love you too." Before both of them drifted off into the much needed sleep their bodies asked for.

"Yo, T!" Darius called while stalking toward studio A. "You forget to fill Kaysha in on your presence tonight or you just waitin' till the last minute?"

Standing over the soundboard, his hands resting on the ends of the table to hold him up, he looked to his right at Darius voice before straightening his features, giving Darius a curious look. "My presence for what exactly?"

Darius rolled his eyes looking aggravated. "My birthday party." He explained, "Been planned for weeks."

"Uhh, sorry, D, I've kinda been outta town the past couple months." Tommy replied, shaking his head irritated before turning back to adjust the controls for Milo's song.

Just as irritated with Tommy, Darius took a stance beside him, saying, "Well your attendance is mandatory. All G Major Employees have to be there. We're slippin' out some hot new tracks tonight too so I need this single finished no later than four-thirty."

Shooting his head up from the board, he looked to Darius like he was nuts, "You gotta be kidding me? We just started working on this yesterday; he's got plenty of other songs."

Yet Darius wasn't going to sit around and argue with him. Instead he turned on his heel to exit the studio, his departing words, "Final mix by four-thirty. Party starts at six."

Angrily, Tommy let out a frustrated groan as he threw himself into his seat and buried his head in his hands.

"Did Little Tommy Q have other plans tonight?" Milo asked mockingly from the recording booth, a smirk on his face, as he saw himself getting to Tommy.

Pressing the intercom button, Tommy gave him a short smile before saying, "I could care less turning your album in how it is now. So unless the words are coming out in a lyrical sense, I advise you don't say anything at all."

Milo rolled his eyes before turning back to tuning his guitar, not thinking twice of calling Tommy on his bluff. The memory of recording with him on his first album was hell in a handbag, and when Tommy had left a few months ago to visit his father Milo was sure he'd get paired up with someone else, yet Tommy was back, and Darius didn't wait to throw him back on the album.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Milo ran the guitar pic over the strings, hearing the guitar in tune before saying, "You ready Quincy?"

Tommy only nodded, placing the headphones over his head, and hitting the pre-recorded music, Milo adding the additional acoustics to his liking. Soft hymns left his mouth before he sang real lyrics, closing his eyes and losing himself within it. _"We had the best years of our lives. You and I, will never be the same. September took me by surprise. And I was left to watch the seasons change."_

A short break came about as he continued to play, letting out more soft hymns as the door, opposite the one Darius entered, opened, and in walked a hooded Jude, quietly sneaking in, and hoping no one but Tommy would recognize her.

"_It's been so quiet since you've gone. And everyday feels more like a year. Sometimes I wish I could move on, and memories could all just disappear."_

Placing her hands on his shoulders, Tommy jumped, startled by the unknown presence, and quickly looked over his shoulder to see Jude smiling down at him through her sunglasses. "Surprise." She whispered, removing her shades, and dropping into the open seat beside him.

Milo began to play harder chords, as he was still in his own world, not even noticing Jude yet as he started to sing the pre-chorus. _"So many things I should've said when I had the chance. So many times we took it all for gra—anted!"_

"What are you doing here?" he asked, removing his headphones and turning to face her, ignoring Milo completely. His hands instantly took hold of her legs, just above her knees as he pulled her chair closer to his.

Smirking, "Not happy to see me, Quincy?" she joked. "I missed you, that's all."

"_I never thought this could ever end,"_ Milo sang, finally opening his eyes, and seeing Tommy not paying attention to him, but solely paying attention to Jude. _"I never thought I'd lose my—"_ but he wasn't about to sing just for nobody. "Hey! Romeo, this isn't recess, can we get back to work?"

Still having his feed on, Tommy turned back to Milo and said, "Great take, kid. Go again." And with that, Tommy restarted the track, cut his feed, and turned his attention back to Jude, not caring if Milo was giving him dirty looks or not.

His attention back on Jude, he smiled at her, letting her know, "I missed you too. In fact, Darius is driving me nuts, so…" taking a breath, he finished, "I'm glad you're here to bring me to bring me back down."

Leaning back in her seat, she propped her feet into his lap, and Tommy instantly held them securely in his hands. "You wanna take your lunch and we can talk about it?"

Reluctantly, he shook his head, "I wish I could, but I gotta get this song finished by four-thirty and it's already noon. Milo's not exactly in the most cooperative mood."

Jude shrugged her shoulders before replying with a playful smirk, "Then turn the song in as is. Teach him a lesson, _and_," she paused, removing her feet from his lap and leaning into him, lowering her voice to a seductive whisper, "if it pisses Darius off, maybe he'll cut you loose from G Major and I'll have you all to myself again."

Watching her bite her lower lip as she worked him with the promise of being free of G Major almost made it worth the while, yet getting fired for bad producing isn't exactly great on his reputation. "As appealing as that is, with you cutting your contract short with London, and me fleeing G Major with knocks of my producing, we'll never get anyone to sign us."

"Okay, so then when can you be home, like five?" she asked, and hearing her call his apartment 'home' to her made him want to ditch G Major and take her there now.

"Uh," he stuttered out, clearing his thoughts, "No." Seeing her face turn to a pout, he answered before she asked, saying with an eye roll, "Darius apparently is having a birthday party tonight, which actually he's using as a cover up to leak out the new singles G Major artists have been working on the past month or so, and my attendance is mandatory."

Literally pouting, Jude sat up with a frown on her face, "But you said we'd get you and me time tonight."

"I know, babe," he said, placing a hand on her cheek, bringing her eyes to look at him. "After the party. I'd try and get you an invite, but…" his voice trailed off, and he didn't really need to answer. They both knew why she wouldn't be able to get in. "I'm sure D's still upset about you leaving."

Rolling her eyes, she threw her head up in annoyance. "Good God, get over it already." She vented before letting her eyes go downcast. "How much longer are you stuck with him?"

Tommy chuckled, before pointing her chin back up to him. "I'm all yours for the taking, Girl. I'll slip away from the party as soon as I can." Suddenly her eyes filled with mischief as she processed the current thought in her head. "Oh no. What are you thinking?"

Biting her lip, she put on a pleading look before scooting in as close to him as she could, "I know a way you can piss Darius off and _not_ ruin your reputation." And his brain was telling him no, to turn away and not listen to what she was about to offer, yet ditching Darius for Jude would always top, and he found he just couldn't look away.

"Darius is going to kill us." Tommy announced as Jude walked from the kitchen into the living room holding two soda cans and a bowl of popcorn.

Looking over his shoulder from the couch, Tommy watched her walk around and take a seat beside him. "Honestly, I could care less." she responded, while Tommy changed the TV to video and grabbed the DVD remote.

Agreeing with her, he said, "I've seen you like twice since you got home your tour. I want a night all to ourselves."

His arm wrapped around her shoulder as she held the popcorn bowl between them, their drinks sitting on the table before them. "With sex?" she smirked as he looked down to her.

Placing a kiss on her lips, he mumbled, "Uh huh. As much as you can take, Harrison."

Her eye brows rose seductively as she slowly moved the popcorn bowl to the floor and began to lean back, gripping his shirt to bring him with her. "You'd be surprised."

Following after her, he replied, "Want to prove it?"

Pressing her lips to his, she kissed him softly before asking, "Depends what movie you picked."

"One you won't like." He told her with a sly grin before positioning himself fully over her. "That answer your question?"

Being completely laid down, she adjusted herself beneath him. "Maybe." She said with a seductive smile.

"Yeah, this is going to be way better than being with Darius tonight." He said before leaning down to kiss her; however Jude had busted into laughter, turning away from the kiss.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed through laughter as one hand covered her mouth and the other set on his chest to hold him off. "That sounded so wrong!" Continuing to laugh she caught Tommy pull in his lower lip and slightly nod at the realization of his words.

"I meant being with him at his birthday party." He clarified, but Jude continued to laugh, now rolling on her side. "Jude, c'mon!"

"I'm sorry." She told him, but still continued to laugh, and it began to get annoying to Tommy. Thinking of an idea, he grabbed her side and started tickling her, causing her to roll closer to the edge of the couch.

"_OhmyGod_, okay! Tom—Tommy, stop! Tommy!" she cried, trying to wiggle from his grasp. "I'm gonna fall!"

"You sorry?" he asked, a cocky smile on his face.

Jude tried to put up with his torture, but he only tickled her higher up her rib cage before she was about to give up and drop the two feet to the floor. "No." she answered back, trying to push him off, however, he wouldn't give up so Jude decided to go to higher lengths.

"Say it. Now say I'm number one. A sex God." He went on, "Say—_Ow!" _and before he could finish, Jude had maneuvered her hand down between his legs and grabbed him. Hard. Tommy yelped and instantly stopped tickling her, but Jude lost remaining balance and they both toppled off onto the floor.

Crashing down, Jude surprisingly was still laughing as her head collided with the edge of the popcorn bowl causing half of it to mix in with her hair, and the rest to catapult over Tommy as he followed after her, landing on his back and knocking his own head on the edge of the coffee table.

"Ah, dammit, Jude." He cursed while holding his head, but she was still only laughing. Giving in, he laughed too as he lay beside her and watched her laughs subside, "God, you're beautiful." He said while gently holding onto her face, running his thumbs over her cheek and staring at her lovingly.

Not wanting to put off making love to her anymore, he sat up to move atop her, however, his head hit the edge of the table again and Jude's soda crashed over, spilling over Tommy's back and into his hair.

She swore to God her lip would bleed if she bit down any harder, but if she broke into another fit of laughter, Tommy would kill her. Opening his eyes, he tried to avoid the cold Pepsi that had drenched him and looked to Jude seeing her holding in her laughter as much as she could. "Perfect." And that simple word caused her to lose it, bursting into laughter and bringing Tommy with her.

"Come here, dork." She said while reaching a hand behind his head and pulling his lips to hers. At first they smiled into the kiss, making it soft and slow before the mood quickly changed as Tommy moved fully atop her.

Yet, them having sex must not have been an option for the couple as Tommy's phone started to ring from his pocket. Breaking the kiss, Jude said to ignore it, as her hands moved beneath his shirt and his own worked on undoing her pants. As quickly as the ringing had come it was gone, and Jude and Tommy were lost amongst each other. The need for him was building up as she gripped his shirt to pull it off him, and Tommy didn't hesitate on helping her remove it.

"Tommy," she breathed as his lips captured hers. His hands working on the button of her jeans, came undone, as the ringing started again. Groaning in annoyance, he brought his mouth away from hers as Jude reached into his pocket to see who was calling him.

Chuckling, she handed him the phone while saying, "It's your boyfriend."

At first not getting it, he eyed her before seeing Darius' name. "Ugh," he sighed before flipping open the phone. "Hello?"

Sitting up, he moved from off the floor and sat on the couch. Jude, mocking his actions, also sat up and brushed away the popcorn kernels as she crawled onto the couch and sat herself behind Tommy, his back to her chest, figuring he was getting chewed out for not being there so she gently ran her hands through his sticky hair to calm him.

"Thanks, Darius." He finally said after remaining quiet the time he was on the phone. "Yeah. Thanks."

"He chew you out?" she asked while placing her lips on his neck, yet that only lasted a few moments before he gently shrugged her away. Knowing something was wrong, she wrapped her arms around his middle and looked over his shoulder to see his face. "What happened?"

His face was almost blank, a look of mixed emotions and that's what he was feeling. "Tommy?"

Looking over to her he said, "My… My Dad. He's having seizures again and… Tristan told Darius…" Tears started to form in his eyes as he looked away.

Jude tightened her hold on him, resting her chin on his shoulder. "Shh, it's okay. You don't have to talk about if it you don't want to."

He slowly shook his head as his breath caught in his throat and a few tears fell from his eyes. Grabbing her hand, he squeezed it tight. "He's only got two months. Two months…"

Untangling herself from him, she brought herself in front of him and wrapped her arms around his neck, letting his own arms wrap around her, pulling her to his lap and holding on for dear life. His father had been sick for a while, but Tommy could bet his own life after spending the few months back home he'd be fine. Now… Now it didn't matter what he'd bet. Now he was dying again.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x:**X**:x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"_I'm dying, I'm trying to leave." _


	2. Take Me Under

"Now it seems I'm fading, all my dreams are not worth saving

"_Now it seems I'm fading, all my dreams are not worth saving. I've done my share of waiting, and I've still got nowhere else to go."_

"_So I wait for you to, take me all the way. Take me all the way."_

Take Me Under

The sun slowly crept over the tired city of Toronto. Headlights on cars turned off, not needing the extra light, as businesses began to open up, and the freeway began to get packed. In Toronto you can't move slowly in the early hours, but Tom Quincy wasn't going to move quickly at all for a very long time. He wasn't sure he'd move at all. Ever so slowly the apartment began to lighten up as the sun creeped through his windows. Both he and Jude were still in the same place from the night before.

He still held Jude cradled to his chest in his lap, her arms holding onto him, as his own held onto her. They had slouched back a bit to lie down, but other than that, there hadn't been much movement at all. His shirt was still discarded, as for Jude had never buttoned up her jeans because neither felt like they could move after the blow of that phone call.

Tommy hadn't slept much all night. He'd drift off, but then wake up and watch Jude sleep for an hour or so, letting it relax him. Last night was supposed to be just for him and Jude. He wanted to show her how much he had missed her, but instead he was faced with the reality that his father was going to die in two months.

Growing up his parents divorced when he was eight. His father had cheated on his mother for years, had even another kid—Kelly—who was just three years younger than Tommy, when his mother finally found out. Tommy stayed with his mom, even though he wanted to go live with his father. He just couldn't see the same man anymore after words.

Matthew would call, keep in touch, and when things started to get bad with his mother he wanted nothing more than to live with his father, but he didn't want his mother to hate him anymore than she already did. Yet still whenever Tommy was in trouble, his father helped him out.

Jude stirred in her sleep, and Tommy knew she was waking. He guessed the time to be possibly around seven, maybe a little later, and he realized it was just hours and hours deducting away from his father's life. Just three days ago everything was supposed to be fine.

"Wha' time is it?" Jude slurred out with a yawn as she stretched the best she could in his lap.

Tommy shrugged, his gaze drifted off in front of him. He felt her shift, but what broke him of his daze was her hand gently cupping the side of his face, bringing his attention to her. "How long have you been awake?"

Another shrug was given, but he also gave her a verbal response, saying, "Couple hours? I don't know."

Sympathy washed over her for him, feeling so horrible he had to be dealing with this. Most she really knew about his father is they didn't have the best relationship, but there was more there than one with his mother. She couldn't imagine what he was going through. "Baby, I'm sorry." She whispered, snuggling herself as close as she could in his arms. "I'm so sorry."

He nodded his head as his hold on her tightened. Laying his cheek atop her head he sniffed back a few tears that tried to surface. "He wants to meet you." Tommy said, breaking the quiet.

Remaining silent, Jude thought over what Tommy had just said. She'd love nothing more than to meet his father. Even after meeting his mother who was a real handful, she was glad she'd met her. It was Tommy's family, and like she'd told him before, she wanted to know everything about him.

Putting a soft smile on her face, she pulled away to look up at him. "I'd love to meet your father, Tommy." Bringing a hand forth, she wiped away at his tears that had fallen on his face.

Nodding his head, he straightened up, Jude instinctively shifted to place her feet on the ground, but remained in his lap. "I don't need to pack anything really. Do you want to run to your house while I call Tristan and find out what he's doing? What's really going on."

"Sure. I shouldn't be too long, a lot of my stuff's already here." She told him while sliding off his lap.

Tommy kept hold of one of her hands, and reached for the other as he sat up and got to his own feet. "I shouldn't be long either." He said in a low tone.

Seeing how upset he was, she leaned in and hugged him with all she could; letting him know within that single hug that she was there for him, and everything was going to be okay. And he knew that was her message. He wrapped his own arms around her and the two just stood there, as he let out a few more tears, holding onto the one thing in his life he knew wouldn't leave him.

That afternoon, they arrived at the home, where his father was residing. Tommy held Jude's hand securely as they walked up to the front desk and signed in, telling the receptionist what she needed to know before finding a seat and waiting to see his father.

"Do you think he'll like me?" Jude asked, nervously.

Tommy had to chuckle, before he leaned over and kissed her temple. "He'll love you."

"What do I say to him? I mean… It's kind of weird circumstances that we're meeting." She confessed, but Tommy still remained lighthearted about it.

"Jude, just don't look at him as a guy who's dying." He told her, and a large amount of guilt flew over her from his statement. "Look at him as my father. You're meeting my father."

Deciding to put a little optimism in the conversation herself, she nudged his shoulder and jokingly said, "Meeting your father 'ey? Got a big question you wanna ask me, Quincy?"

He smiled before giving her a quick kiss, but before he could comment a familiar face entered the waiting room and Tommy quickly came to his feet. "Tristan." He greeted, as his brother walked over and pulled Tommy into a hug.

"How you holdin' up, lil bro?" Tristan asked as their embrace broke.

Tommy nodded before saying, "Best I can be." Looking away from his brother, he held his hand out for Jude, who stood to her feet with a smile on her face.

Taking Tommy's hand, she let him pull her over to his side, before his arm wrapped around her waist. "This is my girl, Jude."

A wave of happiness washed over her as he introduced her to his family. "Hi." She greeted, holding out her hand and shaking Tristan's. He and Tommy shared a lot of the same characteristics. For Tristan looked a few years older, their hair was the same color, Tristan's a more messy look to it, other than Tommy's gelled up hair. Their eyes were different color, but their smile was the same. Tristan's face also shaped more to his mother's as Tommy's, Jude now assumed shaped like his father's.

"This is my wife, Corinne," Tristan introduced, stepping aside to show his very pregnant wife. "She's eight months right now, so Dad can meet his other grandson before he… ya know."

Tommy nodded as Jude shook Corinne's hand as well. "It's nice to meet you. Both of you." As their handshake broke, Jude noticed a small boy holding onto Tristan's pant leg. "And who's this?" she asked, kneeling down to be eye level with the boy.

Clearing his throat, Tommy pointed to him and said, "That's Nicholas. My nephew." Getting down to Jude's level, he smiled at him, and gave him a small wave.

"It's Nick." Tristan warned playfully while ruffling his son's hair.

Jude smiled, as the boy stood there sucking his thumb and taking her in. "Hey, Nick." She greeted. "Wow, I see so much of him in you Tristan."

Tristan laughed, "All my boys," while throwing his fist to his chest concededly, "will take after me."

Corinne rolled her eyes. "Trust me; I'll get my girl out of you."

"You remember me, Nick?" Tommy asked, receiving a small nod from the boy.

Patting his son on the head, he nudged him toward Tommy. "Go give your uncle Tommy a hug."

Doing as he was told, the little boy wobbled over to Tommy and he didn't hesitate to scoop him up in his arms. Both Tommy and Jude rising up to stand now, Jude observed how good Tommy was with kids. It brought a smile to her face and filled her head with a lot of what their future could hold.

Looking to Corinne, Jude asked, "So that one's another boy?"

Corinne nodded with a pout. "We were told it was a girl last time, and well, Nick popped out with parts that didn't belong to a girl. I'll love him both the same, but if I have to wear him out getting me that girl, so be it." Corinne replied, leaning over to pinch her husband's cheek lovingly.

"My sperm is all men." He said proudly. "I'll only give you a boy babe."

Jude chuckled at the two as she turned her attention back to Tommy, listening to his and Nick's conversation. "Mama say you wiv far way."

Tommy nodded. "I do. But you can come over anytime you want." He told him, watching the little boy smile. "You can come play with me, and—" his head nodded toward Jude with a smile, before he looked back to Nick, "Aunt Jude, over there."

Nick looked back to his mother and asked, "And Lil browtha too?"

Jude chuckled toward him, along with Tristan and Corinne as Tommy nodded his head with his own smile, "Yes. Your little brother too."

"Tom Quincy?" came a voice from behind the group.

Both Tommy and Jude looked over their shoulders to a man with a clipboard in his hand, smiling at the group. "That's me." Tommy said, still holding onto Nick as he gave the man a nod asking for his business with him.

"Hi, I'm William. Your father can see you now." He said while turning to get ready and lead the way.

Putting his attention back on Nick, he gave him a kiss on the forehead before saying, "Uncle Tommy's gotta go bye bye right now, okay?" while handing him over to Tristan.

"Bye bye." Nick said, waving as Jude and Tommy made their way to follow after William.

"Don't hog Dad, man." Tristan called after him jokingly, as Tommy took Jude's hand and together they made their way down the hallway to meet his father.

For sure, she thought her biggest conquer would be meeting his mother. She was wrong. Never in her life had she seen someone in this state, and she'd certainly never thought when she would it'd be her first time meeting said person. Tommy and Jude had stood in the doorway, watching his father read a magazine, blocking the view of a presence in the room.

She was frozen, and wanted out. He was connected to machines that Jude had no idea of what they were. Tubes ran into his nose, an IV was hooked to his arm. She'd never seen someone this sick, and didn't want to. It only made the situation more real to her, to what was happening to Tommy. Yet, through her thoughts, Tommy cleared his throat, and got his father's attention.

Setting the magazine aside, Matthew Du Tois looked up and gave the couple a strong smile, making it seem as if he weren't even sick at all. "Tom." He said, his voice a little scratchy, but he quickly cleared his throat as Jude felt Tommy pull her further into the room.

"Hey Dad." He replied, leaning down and giving him a hug with one arm, as he still held Jude's hand securely in the other. Pulling away, he went to introduce Jude, yet his father beat him to the punch.

"And you must be the girl that makes my little boy so happy."

Jude blushed at the comment, as a smile she couldn't hold back graced her lips, "Uh, yeah." She stuttered, embarrassed by the comment, but happy nonetheless. "That's me." Looking to Tommy, she said, "It better be me."

Tommy, who had his own smile across his face from his father's comment leaned forward and quickly kissed her cheek. "This is the one Dad."

Her heart skipped a beat, for Jude figured it was just how he had worded the sentence, but calling her, 'the one…' it made her melt.

"You're all he talks about ya know?" Matt said, with a wise smile on his face.

"Dad," Tommy cut in quickly, but Matt didn't change a thing he'd said.

Jude however decided to pry, and asked, "Really? What's he say?"

"Oh, everything, dear. He goes on about your smile, your eyes. He says how the little things you do brighten his day."

Cutting in, Tommy said, "Okay Dad you're making me sound gay, c'mon."

Jude giggled, "I think it makes you sound sweet."

"And your voice." Matt cut in once again. "He talks on and on about how amazing your voice is, Jude."

Jude looked at him sweetly, before tugging him a little closer so she could wrap her arm around his back. "I lucked out with him, Mr. Du Tois. That's for sure."

"Matt, sweetheart." He corrected, "And while we on the subject of music, Tom, I'd like it more than anything if you'd perform at my service."

Tommy tensed up at the mention of the funeral. "Dad," he began, running his hand at the back of his head, "I don't know."

"Please. Just one song."

Yet Tommy still fought him. "I haven't played for a long time, Dad. I don't even know if I'd be able to. I can't."

Before Matthew could cut in again, Jude jumped between the two. "Tommy, if you can do a BoyzAttack reunion show, you can play at your father's funeral." She told him. Seeing him ready to protest, she continued on, quickly before he cut her off. "And if you can turn my third album from the mess I'd made of it, to the success it turned out to be, you can put together this song."

His head bowed, and she knew her words were getting to him. "I'm not the only one with a great voice in here Tommy. Everything I've learned, if you hadn't taught me, you made it better. You can do this."

And she'd got to him. Matt smiled toward Jude knowing her words had changed his son's mind, and it was clarified when Tommy looked to his father and said, "One song. For you, Dad."

"Thank you, Tom." He said graciously. "Now, get out of here, I want to talk to Jude before your brother and sister show up."

Tommy nodded before giving Jude a quick kiss on the top of her head. "Don't let him fill your head with lies Jude." He joked before disappearing out of the room.

Watching him walk away, she turned her head back to his father as he motioned for her to take a seat. Doing as she was told, she sat down in the chair before Matthew let her know some things about Tommy.

"I'm sure you know, my son loves you very much." He began, Jude nodding to affirm she knew. "He does, Jude. Honestly, he talked about you, about how much in love he was, and it really fills my heart for him knowing that I'm not going to die before seeing he's taken care of."

She felt a well of emotions bubble up within her at his words, but kept her composure professional for him. "Tristan and Kelly both have families, and Tom was seriously the one kid I was most worried for."

"He's a good person, Matt. Such a good person." She told him, feeling the need to let his father know so.

Matthew nodded in response, before replying, "Because of you, dear. I don't want you to change a thing you're doing. Love him with all the love you have for him, and don't stop. Promise to take care of my boy for me."

The seriousness was evident in his tone, and Jude nodded her head at his request. "I promise. I will. I wouldn't be able to do anything but that."

Their conversation had consisted of how Jude wanted things to go with Tommy. Their future and such, and things about Tommy's life that he'd probably tried to pry out of Tommy and was unsuccessful. Either way, it wasn't an uncomfortable greeting, and she was glad that even though Matt Du Tois wouldn't be in the world much longer, he was in her life for the time being.

A week had passed, where they spent most of the time at Matt's home. Kelly had a family dinner at her home one night, in which Matt actually was able to leave the home for the time being to attend. It was as if Jude had been in the middle of Tommy's family reunion and she was more than excited that she was meeting his brother and sister and their families.

On their way back from dinner, Jude and Tommy giggled over nothing in particular as they walked up to their hotel room. "Nick looks _just_ like Tristan, I can't believe it." Jude said as the two walked through the door into their room. "And little Lucy… She was so adorable."

Tommy smiled as he heard her ramble while helping her remove her coat. "I might have a few baby pictures of Tristan I can show you when we get home."

Having her coat fully removed, she turned to face him, excited he was offering to share something from his past like this. "I'd like that." She said with a smile before standing on her tip toes and pecking his lips.

The small kiss made a smile rush across his features. "I can't promise I can find them," he began, watching her pull out a pair of his boxers to sleep in, and slip into them while keeping her dress on. "But if I do, I'll let ya see how much that kid looks like Tristan."

Jude turned her back to him, and Tommy didn't have to be asked to unzip the back of her dress. "Can I see some of _your_ baby pictures?" she asked as he finished pulling the zipper down, leaving her in his boxers and a white spaghetti strap tank. Turning to face him, she stepped out of her dress that had pooled at her ankles and gave him a pout face. "Please."

He smirked while unbuttoning his dress shirt, "Those I'm not sure I have any."

She laughed, while picking up her dress and straightening it out over the back of a chair. "You're so full of it, Quincy."

"I don't." he continued on, tossing his unbuttoned shirt to the side, leaving himself in just his pants before quickly wrapping his arms around her waist from behind.

Jude let out a yelp of surprise as her feet left the ground and Tommy slammed her down on the bed behind them, quickly jumping atop her, one knee on each side of her hips and hovering over her. Her laughter had filled the as his hands were placed one each side of her head, trapping her in place. "'Callin' me a liar, Girl?"

"Never!" she squealed with certainty before he nuzzled his nose on her neck and she instantly began to squirm out of his grasp. "You remember wh-what happened last time you d-did this."

At those warning words, he stopped and lightly bit her neck, grazing the skin with his teeth, before pulling back to look at her; her smile brightening the whole room. "I've got you in check Quincy."

He chuckled before rolling from atop her and laying on his side. Jude remained on her back as she looked up to him smiling down to her, and she could tell his mind was racing with some sort of thoughts. "Whatcha thinkin' 'bout, Tommy Q?"

Shrugging he broke eye contact while moving some stray hairs from her face. "What do you think about kids?" he asked calmly, finding her eyes as he ran his fingers through her hair, playing with the ends with his fingertips.

Surprising herself, his question didn't actually come from left field for her. She didn't tense, she didn't catch her breath, she took it as any ordinary question, and it thrilled Tommy more than he could imagine that she didn't get scared. "I want to be a Mom someday, if that's your question. I want kids."

His smile grew on his face as once again he looked away before asking, "How many?" and like before as the question rolled off his tongue, he'd looked back up to see her reaction.

This time her eye contact broke as she put thought into the question, but found his eyes staring into hers as she answered, "Four."

"Two girls, and two boys?" he asked, this time keeping his eyes on hers. Her response was a simple nod before Tommy said, "Me too."

Jude shifted a bit, as she laid on her own side, and continued to gaze up to him. "What are their names?"

In thought, he glanced away, before a name came to mind, and he looked back to her saying, "Ryan. For a boy."

She smiled at the name, grinning like Christmas morning before confessing, "I like that name."

Leaning forward, Tommy pressed a kiss on her forehead before asking, "What about you? For a boy."

It didn't take her as long as Tommy, as names ran through her mind before saying, "Conner." Her smile grew seeing Tommy's positive reaction. "I've always loved that name."

His nod showed his liking to the name as well as he reached between them and grabbed her hand, entwining their fingers. "What do you like for a girl?"

Having a different reaction than when he'd asked for a boy's name, her face showed one of uncertainty as she bit her bottom lip, thinking of a name. "Hmm," she said, while looking into his face, seeing patience and humor and out of no where a name struck. Thinking it over, she decided on voicing it, liking the name herself. "Riley."

Tommy's eyebrows rose and his head nodded. "I like that name. It's pretty." He said, and Jude smiled.

"It is." She agreed, squeezing his hand a little, before feeling him bring her hand up to his lips and kissing her knuckles. "What about you? What would you name your girl?"

"I actually put thought into that one." He said with a smirk, hiding back a chuckle. "I wanted it to have to do with music, and thought Melody for a name, but it didn't really click ya know?"

Jude nodded, thinking over the name. It would be cute, but… Not really her style of a name. "Yeah. So what'd you come up with then?"

"Melanie."

Jude let the name run through her head, at the similarity in sound, but difference as well. Melody would be more of a themed name, as to where this wasn't. Finding Tommy's eyes, she smiled brightly, while nodding. "I love it."

His grip on her hand tightened a bit as he drew in a breath. Giving her a cocky smile, he asked, "_But_," the one word changing his tone, and catching Jude's attention for what else he had to say. "The real question here isn't their first name."

She pursed her lips together, smiling before asking, "What is the real question, Mr. Quincy?"

"The _real_ question," he said, shifting a bit before catching her complete attention. "is what their last name is."

She had known that was what he was going to ask, and the big grin on her face showed she did. However, instead of flat out answering, she decided to play with his head a bit. Placing a finger on her chin, she looked up in thought before admitting, "Well, ya see, Speid asked me if Karma ever got to be too much if he could knock me up so he'd have a valid reason to divorce… Conner Speiderman…" she said leaving his eyes to think it over. "S'kinda got a ring to it."

He lightly chuckled at how cute she looked, and sounded saying such ridiculous things to him. "That right?" he asked, both having eye contact and not planning on losing it. Jude nodded assuredly, trying to hold back the grin at bay, but his next words wouldn't allow her to do so. "**Hell** would freeze _over_," he announced, as Jude let her giggles out. He shifted in his seat and pushed her back onto her back while hovering over her once more, "if _any_ of your kids had a name other than mine."

Shaking her head back and forth, she threw her arms around his neck and pulled his lips down to hers. "I don't want my kids to have any other name." she confessed, kissing him once again.

Tommy moved his lips from her mouth and started peppering kisses across her jaw line, on her nose, her forehead. "And all my kids," he said, continuing to place kisses where ever his lips landed, "better not have feminine characteristics from anyone else than you."

His lips caught the corner of her mouth, and Jude pulled his lips closer and kissed him, her lips lingering for longer than just a couple of seconds. In that kiss she showed him all the joy she held over the subject, just plain how happy he'd made her. Also she was ecstatic for the mood he was in now. His father's illness had given her a depressed Tommy the past week, and she was just happy to see him smile again.

Pulling away from the kiss, Tommy looked down to her briefly as they both stabled their breath before he connected their lips once more. Not hesitating to open her mouth with his own, let the kiss deepen, along with their current mood.

Definitely progressing, Jude's hands traveled up his back, her fingertips running over his muscles, feeling them move beneath them as Tommy kept his own hands busy as well. One traveled down the curves of her body, tracing over her shoulder, and running down the curve from her waist and hips, before grabbing hold of her thigh. She responded instantly as he pulled her leg up, and her legs spread open, allowing himself to settle between them.

Tommy broke the kiss as Jude grinded her hips against his own. A groan escaped his lips as he huffed out a groggy, "Take your clothes off." And his lips connected to her neck, kissing a small trail up behind her ear and sucking on the sensitive skin. Her head barely nodded at his demand, before her hands moved from running over his back and quickly to the waist band of his boxers. Grabbing the elastic band to both his boxers and her own panties, she slid them down as far as her arms could reach, before feeling Tommy's hand drag them down the rest of the way.

Her head was thrown back as she felt Tommy already place his fingers inside her, already pleasuring her, and removing her tank would have to wait. Her hands gripped the bed sheets, fisting them in her hands before she felt Tommy pull his mouth from her neck and connect to her lips. His fingers had abandoned their previous duty as well, and Jude took that as her cue to rid Tommy of his own pants.

Reaching between their bodies she unbuttoned his jeans and thanked God, he wasn't wearing a belt. Her hands were slightly unsteady as she unzipped the pants, but she succeeded in the task, and Tommy quickly shook himself out of them. As he worked on getting his boxers off as well, Jude caught sight of their duffel bag, and although she assumed she knew the answer, she saw no harm in asking still.

"Are we…" she breathed out before feeling Tommy's erection against her inner thigh. Closing her eyes she got her train of thought back before asking again, "Are we using a…"

Tommy, who had been pulling her shirt up and placing kisses up her stomach as he did so, shook his head. "No." he said as Jude sat up a bit and raised her arms for him to discard the tank. "No condom."

Jude nodded her head as well, a smile spreading across her features as she reached a hand at the back of his head, "Okay," she breathed out before pulling his lips onto hers. Lying back down, she used her free hand and took hold of his erection and placed it at her entrance.

His train of thought was lost as she had her hand wrapped around him, softly stroking him before he entered her. With his face dug into the crook of her neck, he groaned before pulling his face up, and kissing her passionately while smoothly entering her. Her small cry of pleasure was muffled against his lips, and before either knew it, they found a steady rhythm, but Tommy's goal wasn't just to find ecstasy. He wanted to get her pregnant. He wanted to have her carry his child.

"Tommy," left her mouth, mixed within her breath, as he continued to thrust within her, and as he felt his own release coming soon, he reached between them and began pleasuring her with his fingers to bring her to her own climax. From his actions, more whimpers and moans left her mouth as her fingers dug into the muscles of his back, while her own arched.

Heavy pants left his lips and his mind was foggy. "I'm coming," he breathed out, continuing to thrust and feel Jude tighten around him. "I'm…"

"Tommy…" she cried, her back arching as her leg wrapped around him, pushing him further into her. "Tommy, I'm… I'm come…"

"Ugh." He groaned as Jude came and with a final thrust, Tommy was brought to his own release, shooting into her, before he collapsed, his head lying on his chest above her heart. Their breathing was heavy as they laid their, exhausted and lost within the bliss of their lovemaking.

Her arms were wrapped around his back as she held him to her chest as she ran her fingers through his hair, moist with sweat, but she didn't care. Still inside her, Tommy found the strength to push himself up and placed a kiss on her shoulder before pulling out and looking down to her. "Think that was a boy or a girl?" he asked with a conceited grin.

Gently pushing him to lie on his back, Jude snuggled into the pocket of his shoulder. "I don't know." She told him. Her arm draped across his chest as her legs tangled amongst his own. She felt him pull the sheet up and over them, and his arm wrap securely around her waist. "What do you want it to be?" she asked him.

Feeling his lips kiss the top of her head in her hair, his hand self consciously drew small circles on her hip bone beneath the sheet. "A girl."

Her heart beat increased at his confession, for she was sure he'd have said a boy. Before she could comment however, Tommy continued. "I want to hold our baby girl and promise her so many things. How no guy will ever be good enough. How I'll put the fear of God into anyone who thinks about breaking her heart."

"You gonna be the Dad that's cleanin' his rifle when she brings her boyfriend home for the first time?" she joked, and heard him chuckle.

He chuckled once again before saying, "I'll let him know I'm not afraid to go back to jail."

Jude playfully swatted him on the chest, before tilting her head up and showing him her smile, "I love you." She told him, because no other words were needed at that moment.

He kissed her forehead. "I love you, too, Girl."

And no more words were shared before Tommy reached over and flicked off the nightstand lamp, and the couple drifted off to sleep.

Ringing sounds from a telephone entered the couples' ears and neither felt the energy to move. "S'that the phone?" Jude slurred out, as she shifted in Tommy's arms, digging her head further into the pocket of his shoulder.

She could feel him nod his head as he mumbled out his own, "Uh huh. I think so."

"Wha' time is it?" she asked.

Tommy reached up and wiped at his eyes to rid himself of the sleep as he read, "One-twenty," and fumbled for the phone.

Feeling him reach for the phone, she slipped out of his hold and rolled onto her side, finding a pillow to get back to sleep. "Who would call this late?"

"Maybe someone complained from you screaming earlier." He answered before picking up the phone from the nightstand, for it seemed the ringing wasn't going to stop.

"Ha, ha." He heard through a yawn, for she didn't have enough energy to reply with anything else.

Clearing his throat he answered, "Hello?"

Jude was still get settled in her new sleeping position as he had answered, hoping it was a wrong number or a quick phone call, because she would rather have been sleeping in his arms. When he remained silent, she rolled back over, and placed her chin on his shoulder, somewhat spooning him as she tried to pick up on who he was speaking to.

"I'll… I'll talk to you in the morning." He said dismissing himself from the phone call. "In the morning." His voice was firmer that time as he reached out and set the phone on the cradle, hanging up the call. Leaning a bit more forward he reached for the phone cord and unplugged it, not wanting anymore phone calls coming through to the room.

Jude knew something was wrong, she could feel it. Sitting up, she allowed him to roll back over, but didn't hesitate to start asking questions. "Who was that?" she asked, seeing his face blank, "Tommy?" Her hand went to hold onto his cheek, and she felt his skin had broken out into a cold sweat. "Tommy?" she asked again.

"It was Kelly." He said, his voice distant, as his eyes stared off. "My Dad just died, twenty minutes ago."

She drew in a breath of surprise, as his eyes found hers and answered the question she was going to ask, "He had a heart attack. I don't have details, I didn't want any."

Jude shook her head as she held onto his face, "It's okay." She whispered as a tear left his eye.

A moment's silence passed before Tommy choked on his tears, and let all the walls he'd been holding up, down. "He's dead." He whispered, and Jude quickly threw her arms around him, pulling him into her embrace, and thankful he had allowed her to do so.

"I'm so sorry Tommy." She whispered to him, as she held him to her. And neither knew how late they had stayed up as he broke down. It was as if everything had finally crashed down on him and it was all real. His father's illness, the intensity of the illness, the fact that he was going to be killed, and that fact that he was dead now.

The following three days were a blur. Jude and Tommy had barely left the hotel room. He'd stayed in writing and preparing the song for his father to play at the service. She was definitely impressed, for while she watched him put together the song, he wrote in the percussion, the acoustic chords which consisted of most the song. There were piano portions, and even an electric solo. It wasn't over produced, even though the song was fine with just with the acoustic lining.

When she tried to put together her album she'd attempted all what Tommy had been doing, but it had sounded so wrong. It made her realize just how talented he was, and how lucky she was to have him in her life. Even though within those days he had been moody, she knew it was because he was grieving. He would try and push her away, but in the next second he'd allow her to give him the comfort he needed.

Plans for the service were put together by Matt's wife and Kelly for the most part. Tristan stopped by the hotel room a few times and kept Jude updated for Tommy didn't want to see anyone. He was too enthralled within the song. Time had both flew by and dragged on, but the gloomy day of Matthew Du Tois' service had finally arrived, and Jude prayed with all she had that Tommy was going to be okay.

"Tommy, the car's here." Jude announced as she let go of the curtain and drew her attention to him finishing buttoning his shirt.

He gave a small nod as he finished the current button and moved to the remaining two, keeping an eye on his actions through the mirror. Seconds later Jude appeared with his own reflection, gently linking arms with him and resting her cheek on the side of his shoulder. Tommy fumbled with the final button and she could see the worry, the sadness eating away at him. Once the button was successfully buttoned, Jude moved in front of him and wrapped her arms around him, and he didn't wait to place his own around her, accepting the comfort she was giving.

"I love you." She told him as her head rested on his chest, letting him know she was there for him.

Tommy kissed the top of her head and held her closer, running his hands up and down her back and just wanting to keep that moment of her and him, no problems, nothing.

A knock on the door interrupted their peace and Tommy let out a sigh, knowing it was time to let go. Both released their hold. "We gotta go." She told him while slowly getting out of his arms and reaching for her jacket.

Making her way to the door, she heard him call her name and felt Tommy grab her hand as he quickly closed the space between them. Looking over her shoulder, she saw him give a sad smile.

"I love you too." He told her and she swore those simple words, just letting her know what she already did made her lose balance—almost. Stepping into him she held his hand and placed another on his chest before leaning up and softly kissing him.

Pulling away, he helped her with her coat as they made their way out the door to say goodbye to Matthew Allen Du Tois.

At the service, Tommy's step mother was on stage, Alicia and she was holding herself together better than a lot would have given her credit for. She'd been a mess throughout the entire funeral, but as she spoke about the man she loved, she had let tears fall down, but kept herself together. Maybe it was her way of closure, no one knew. But she surely was more put together than Tommy was.

Having the program staring up at him, seeing his name next put a shot of nerves through his body. Turning his head he looked about the crowd at all the faces he knew and didn't know. A sweat formed on his forehead and never in his life did he ever get stage fright. What was going on with him, he didn't know.

Jude's hand still rested on his thigh, her thumb gently stroking his leg, and the small action put him a little bit as ease, but just a little. "I can't… I can't go up there." He said, his voice shaky.

His voice turned her attention on him, although through the whole service she had definitely kept her eyes on him more than anyone's. The hand resting on his thigh, quickly moved up to his chin as she forced him to look at her, "Tommy, it's okay."

"It's not." He whispered out, his voice rough, and breaking her heart little by little. "I wanted to do this for him."

"You can." She told him. Looking into his tear filled eyes she brought his forehead to rest on hers, "You're strong—definitely strong enough for this."

"Then come up with me." He asked, pulling his forehead from hers and staring straight into her eyes.

She paused for a moment, seeing all the bottled up hurt in his eyes, before nodding her head. She already played the song with him, knew what he had drawn out, even wondered why he didn't get a backup band for the guitar solo he'd wrote into it, or someone to cover the piano. There was no way she would turn him down when he needed her. No way.

Alicia had dismissed herself, and it was now Tommy's turn for the stage, "You ready now then, babe?" she asked, and his appearance screamed he wasn't, but he nodded his head anyway.

"Lets go." He said, his voice still rough as he took her hand, linked their fingers and made their way down the aisle, and up to the stage.

He didn't introduce himself as he came up, and Jude took that as her own cue to stay silent as well. She followed behind him, and as he took a guitar, before she went over to the keyboard. Tommy grabbed a stool and passed it over to her, but didn't give her any eye contact as he did so. Just turned to grab the other vacant stool and set it before the microphone.

Half the people he didn't know, and even though his relationship with his father wasn't the best, he had to do this for him. Looking over his shoulder he saw Jude give him a comforting smile and knowing she was ready to go, he put his mouth by the mic and simply said, "This is for my father."

Tommy began strumming away, Jude joining him, using the drum effects on the keyboard to hit the snare and bass as he softly started to sing. _"There's no one in town I know. You gave us someplace to go. I never said thank you for that. Thought I might get one more chance."_

His eyes found Corinne's who was crying as Tristan kept his arms around her. One hand set on her stomach and it broke Tommy's heart knowing they were so excited that the baby was going to be born before his father's passing. So they thought.

"_What would you think of me now? So lucky so strong, so proud. I never said thank you for that. Now I'll never have a chance."_

Jude began to play the piano as Tommy softly cut into the chorus, his voice not rising at all, just the tempo of the song. "_May angels lead you in. Hear you me, my friend. On sleepless roads the sleepless go, may angels lead you in."_

He continued to play his original chords as Jude played a small solo on the piano, matching the tune of the chorus, as it transitioned between the chorus and verse. _"So what would you think of me, now?"_ Leaning up to the mic, singing into the background, Jude joined him, "_So lucky so strong, so proud." _

"_I never said thank you for that."_ Tommy sang, alone, as he felt the tears building up, _"Now I'll never have a chance."_

Again, Jude joined him, singing quieter than she had before, almost as if her voice was a background hymn, _"May angels lead you in. Hear you me, my friends. On sleepless roads the sleepless go. May angels lead you in."_

Only music played for a moment, before Jude softly sang, _"May angels lead you in."_

Two music counts passed, and Tommy leaned up to his own mic singing, _"May angels lead you in."_

Jude's soft voice once again sang, _"May angels lead you in."_ before reaching to her side and grabbing an electric guitar. Before they both sang, _"May angels lead you in." _as Jude broke into a nice, gentle guitar solo while he continued to play the repetitious chords.

Once her solo ended, Tommy changed the chords and gently strummed the bottom stings, the sound coming out almost as Christmas bells. Jude took her seat once again at the piano, as he sang in a quieter voice, a voice showing more emotion than he'd have wanted to, _"And if you were with me tonight. I'd sing to you just one more time. A song for the heart so big. God wouldn't let it live."_

The music had picked up to a much higher tempo as he began to sing the chorus once again, as he fought back tears from the last line, _"May angels lead you in. Hear you me, my friends. On sleepless roads the sleepless go, may angels lead you in." _His voice not the low, soft tune it had been the entire song, but stronger now, sang, _"May angels lead you in. Hear you me, my friends. On sle—eple—ss roads, the sleepless go, may an—gels lead you in."_

Jude noticed his voice cracking on the notes he had held, and it almost brought her to tears as she sang her final line. _"On sleepless roads, the sleepless go."_

"_May angels lead you in."_ he sang, the music cutting as did his line, before he felt tears finally roll down his cheeks.

Applauses were heard throughout the crowd—the crowd to which contained a lot more tears than it had before Tommy sang his song. Before he could think, Jude was by his side, taking his hand with hers. She wiped at her tears before he noticed them, needing to be strong for him, but he noticed the stains on her cheeks. Discarding the guitar, he set it aside, keeping his hold on her hand, before heading off the stage.

"That was beautiful Tommy." She told him, instantly feeling his grip on her hand tighten as they stepped down the few steps off the pop up stage.

He opened his mouth as his breath quickened. Shaking it off, he tried to speak again, his voice very shaky, telling her, "I want to go home now."

Jude nodded, "Okay. We'll get our stuff together, and I'll book a flight." His eyes still didn't find hers, for he only silently answered with nods of his head. "Do you want to say goodbye to anyone?"

"No. I just wanna get out of here." He said once again, as they got to the back of the service and walked out the door. Their goodbye to his father, over now.

Jude was scared. She'd never dealt with losing someone before, never anyone close for the matter. Both her parents were still alive, all her immediate family. Sure, she'd lost Patsy, but even still, she'd known Patsy a year. Tommy had Matt in his life for twenty eight years. She couldn't even imagine losing her own father.

Needless to say, Tommy had barely spoken two words since they left the service. Jude was thankful in the hotel room he'd let her hold him when he couldn't hold the tears back any longer. Not happy to see him that upset, she was ecstatic she was able to wrap him up in her arms. Whisper how it's all going to be okay, that his father was out of his pain. He'd told her he loved her and thank you, but after words, she was surprised when any word came from his mouth.

The flight home, unlike his last flight didn't have any delays, and it was just nine o clock that night when the walked through the door to his apartment. Funny to think he didn't expect to be home this soon. He was told two months, and his father died within the eight days he was there.

As he stood in the entry hall he overlooked the apartment and was frozen. If Jude hadn't taken his duffel from his shoulder to break his thoughts, he'd probably stayed there all night. "C'mon, Tom." She said, setting his bag on her shoulder with her own, the weight alone almost making her topple over, but she stood strong. Taking his arm, she lead him to his bedroom. "Lets go to bed babe."

Tommy nodded his head and he let Jude lead him to his room. He felt lifeless. It was like his soul had been sucked out of him. Using the duffel bags to her advantage, Jude pushed open the door, and slid them off her shoulders, before bringing Tommy to the bed and sitting him on the edge. Crouching down before him, her hands gently held his face, and brought his gaze to hers.

He was so lost, she could see it. She could see the hurt as tears pooled at the bottom of his eyes. "I'm so sorry, baby. I wish I could take the hurt away, I wish I could."

Tommy brought his hand up and held it over hers as he leaned into her touch and not much time passed before she got up and pulled him to his feet. "Lets go to sleep Tommy."

At her words he realized just how tired he was. He nodded his head and undressed as Jude helped him in bed before grabbing her own pair of clothes to change into. Once his head hit the pillow, she saw the sleep quickly creep up on him. Leaning down, she placed her lips on his forehead as his hand took hold of hers. "I'm gonna grab a quick shower, okay, babe?"

He nodded as his eyes drooped close and gave her hand a quick squeeze. Holding his hand for just a while longer, she took in the moment at how peaceful he looked when she knew inside he was a wreck. Sighing, she let go of his hand and walked over to his bathroom, not wasting anytime to turn on the water and strip down. Once inside the shower, however, as the hot water poured down on her back, Jude let out every emotion she had been feeling.

Her sobs were muffled by the water, but not enough. She was lost too. No where near as lost as Tommy, but she didn't know what to do for him. He was closing up, she knew it, and just telling him on repeat that 'it's going to be okay' won't help. Jude doubted herself at her duties of being the one there for him, even shed tears that Matthew had passed.

Fears passed through her mind that she wouldn't be able to save him, and she'd lose him too. She was scared when the day came and her actions to help would just disappoint him. She wouldn't be able to handle that. Never.

From his bedroom, Tommy heard the muffled cries from his bathroom. Instantly he knew they weren't cries of trouble, that she wasn't hurt, but they were cries nonetheless and he was out of bed without hesitance. Not wanting to alarm her though, he paused at the door for a moment, but going in like he intended was put to a halt. On the other side of the door, he heard Jude speaking. To whom, he didn't know? But he turned his ear toward the door and listened.

Inside the shower, Jude placed her hands on the wall before her, steadying herself, as she had a small breakdown. She started speaking her thoughts aloud, to no one for she knew she was alone. She wasn't speaking to God, she wasn't speaking to herself, she was just hoping for some kind of answer.

"How do I help him?" she cried, "I don't know how to save him from this, I've never lost a father, I've never been in this position before. He's… He's drifting away from me, and I can't stop it. I don't want him to change. I don't want him to not be my Tommy anymore, please."

And as her silent prayer went on, he felt his own heart crush even more. He'd been afraid of exactly this. Placing a small knock on the door before opening it, Jude had stopped talking, and through the shower curtain he saw her shadow straighten up and wipe at her face. Probably to rid the evidence of the tears. Although still in his t-shirt and boxers, he pulled the curtain back, and saw the sadness on her face. "Girl, what's wrong?"

She shook her head, and tears pooled out once again, for she didn't have enough time to pull herself together yet. "Tommy you're supposed to be getting rest."

He shook his own head and stepped inside the shower with her, not even caring to rid himself of his clothes, before pulling her against his chest. "I heard you crying." He told her, as he wrapped his arms around her, feeling Jude herself cling to him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she lied, "I'm just sad. About your father, I'm sad for you."

His throat tightened, the pain still at a high intensity to hear of his father's death. "You can cry, Jude." He told her, feeling his own tears sting his eyes, thankful to be standing beneath the water, so he could be strong for her. "I can hold onto you, just like you hold onto me."

And the two stood there, with not many more words passing through. Her head rested on his shoulder as he laid his own atop of hers, running his hand in a soothing matter up and down her back. The water soon began to get cold, and Tommy carefully got her out of the shower, and wrapped a towel around her before stripping himself from his wet clothes. Grabbing a towel for himself, he held it together with one hand, while placing his other on the small of her back, ushering her into their bedroom.

Jude had pulled herself together enough during the time Tommy had held her, and she gathered them both something to sleep in. Tommy on the other hand let his mind wander from the words she had been crying before he joined her in the shower. Right now, he'd have to put it off. Right now, he'd have to forget all about it, and get some sleep. He desperately needed sleep.

The rolls had once again been switched, for Jude felt the desperate need to make sure he was okay and take care of him, she took his hand and pulled him to the bed. He wanted to fight her off, be a big boy and take care of himself, but after the emotional drain in the shower, he had no energy to do so. Instead he got into bed and pulled her into his arms. Soft 'I love you's' weren't whispered, no more conversation had followed; the couple just closed their eyes and let themselves drift off to sleep.

Jude awoke the next morning alone, Tommy's side of the bed completely vacant. As her senses came more to play, she noticed how bright the room was, and wondered just how late she had slept, but to her surprise as she checked the clock it was only eight-thirty. Stretching for a moment, she let out a yawn, before slipping out of bed to find Tommy. The bathroom had been vacant, so she ventured off down the hall and found him seated on the couch.

Sitting on the middle cushion, he let his body sink into the back as his hands fidgeted restlessly in his lap. "Babe, it's eight-thirty, why're you awake?" she asked, rubbing sleep from her eyes as she walked over and sat next to him.

He gave a quick shake of his head, muttering a quiet, "Dunno. Couldn't sleep."

However, his short answer told her he was lying and she called his crap. Taking hold of one of his hands, "What's wrong Tommy?" she asked, her voice calm, but it was exactly what he didn't want.

"Stop." He told her, taking his hand out of her grasp.

"Tom? Baby—"

"_**Jude**_," he stressed, "Just stop. I don't need you to watch over me like I'm a broken record." For a moment, he sat there, keeping his eyes away from Jude's, but he couldn't sit still, and he quickly jumped to his feet. "Maybe we shouldn't do this right now."

Her eyes crinkled in confusion as she stared up to him, his side facing her, and his eyes avoiding her. "Shouldn't do _what_, exactly?"

"This!" he yelled back, turning his body to face hers and throwing his arms to his side. "Me and you, Jude! With everything going on," his voice began to calm down, as he found her eyes, "it's probably better to take some time until this passes."

"What do you mean Tommy? Break up, take a break?" she asked him, the nervousness showing in her voice, as it was outlined with a bit of anger. "Don't distance yourself on me. Not now."

"I have to!" he shouted, "We broke up over my mother before Jude. And that woman can't stand me!" Tommy announced, "I actually had a decent relationship with my father, and I don't want you interfering again to do what happened last time."

Standing up, his words not only hit a soar spot for her, but struck a match. "Interfering?" she asked, "I'm helping you, Tommy. I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing for you—"

"And I don't want you to!" he cut her off, "Don't you get it? We just… Let me get my head straight. Let me get over this, and if we're okay, we'll pretend it never happened."

Jude shook her head furiously. "No. That's not how this works. We don't separate for a couple of days at a time when things get rough, and this 'if we're okay' bullshit, no! You break up with me, and that's what it is. You don't tell me to give you time, while I waste my own if in the end you don't want me anymore!"

Running his fingers through his hair, "That's not what I mean."

"But it's exactly what you said, Tommy!" she shouted back. "So here," in a calmer tone, Jude offered, "I'll leave. Like you want me to. And I'm going to live me life, a single girl, doing what I normally do, and if you get your stuff together before I move on…"

He watched her bite her bottom lip, holding back the tears she didn't want to let loose. "If I haven't moved on," she cried, "maybe we can go back to how things were before this."

Tommy watched her furiously wipe at her tears and he felt the urge to go hold her as she cried but he couldn't. "I'm doing this to not push you away."

That earned a laugh from her as she shook her head, and gave her departing words, "Too late." She said as she moved to go back to the bedroom. "That's exactly what you just did." And there was nothing more he could do or say other than collapse back onto the couch as she collected her things from his room, which didn't take long.

Her stuff was probably gathered within a good ten minutes, and as he sat alone in his living room, his eyes never left her leaving form as she carried her bags of clothes that had been collected over the months she'd been here, and walk out his front door.

And he was alone. More alone than he could ever imagine. When she'd left for London, he didn't ever want to experience that feeling of lonesomeness like he had when she was away. But now it was back, and hurt even more to know that it was only there because of what he had asked of her.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x:**X**:x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"_Push me under, pull me farther. Take me all the way. Take me all the way."_


	3. Summer

"It's far beyond your reach, it holds a place in time

Yay, an update, yay! Sadly, only one… I almost have chapter four finished, and I'll post it in the morning on my way to work. That's a for sure too, cuz I don't gotta be to work till 3 anyway. Also 'There Goes My Life' will be double updated tomorrow too at the same time. This is a long chapter once again, basically introducing a few characters and the story itself. At the bottom after the post I have a little challenge as well for you guys so check that out too :)

Hope you guys enjoy this, sorry it took so long :-/

"_It's far beyond your reach, it holds a place in time. Somewhere ahead, is the back of the line."_

"_I can relate, to your mistake. Awkwardly speaking with nothing to say."_

Summer

It had been three weeks. Three weeks had passed that he hadn't touched her. Three weeks had passed that he hadn't kissed her. Three weeks had passed since she'd even see him. Three weeks had passed and it still felt like her heart was ripped from her chest. She missed him. Terribly.

There she was, twenty-one, living at home, and spending most of her free time writing songs about Tommy. Songs about her feelings for him, how much she loved him. Yet, out of the many songs she had written, none of them were worthy enough of any studio.

However, she was thankful Sadie was her older sister and knew just what Jude needed to get over the break up. The break up that haunted her dreams every night. The break up that filled most of her thoughts during the day. Yeah, the one where Tommy crushed her. Big time.

Sadie was her rescue though. Michael had proposed toward the end of Jude's tour, and Sadie was set on a September wedding. Today was June twenty-second, the first day of summer giving them a whole season to plan her wedding, and she was using as much of Jude's free time as she could.

Today, she'd actually found an escape. Hiding in her bedroom, she was camped under her covers, writing fanatically over some lyrics that had been jumping around in her head lately. "So now, we're standing in the rain, and nothing… is ever gonna, change, until you hear, the seven things I hate about you." She mumbled as she wrote them down.

Loud banging on her door caused her to jump, for the sound at first scared her, until she recognized exactly who it was. "Go away." She warned, feeling around for the pen she had dropped.

"Ju—oode." Was called, in an obnoxious squeaky voice. "Wakey, wakey."

"I'm serious." She warned, staring at the lyrics, something not clicking with her. When all became silent, she stopped her current actions, knowing she was going to be bombarded by something, or someone. She knew he didn't give up that easily. As her mind shot back and forth with possible scenarios to what she could expect, the blanket she had tented around her quickly enveloped her on each side, trapping her in, and forcing her to take a laying position.

"Ah!" she screamed, feeling two sets of hands wrap around her body as they held the blanket around her, trapping her in. "Guys let me go!"

Two sets of chuckles were heard, and she quickly identified Speid's laugh, along with Aaron's. "Here Dude, let her stick her head out so she can breathe."

"Let me out completely!" she demanded, holding her journal to her chest before seeing the top of her blanket open up so she could stick her head out. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Kidnapping you." Speid simply replied, as he got a good hold of her legs, having Jude being positioned over his shoulders.

Adding on, Aaron said, "We miss the fun exciting Jude."

"We don't like the boring depressed one." Speid quickly said while kicking her bedroom door open and walking into the hallway.

Wiggling her arms free from the cocoon she'd been trapped in, she reached out, grabbing the door frame, stopping them from carrying her any farther. "I don't care what you like, put me down!" she said, but Aaron only pried her fingers loose and took hold of her arms before continuing to take her to their original destination.

Groaning in frustration she announced, "I don't have any pants on! Put me down!"

Speid chuckled as they approached the stairs, "If I put you down and you have pants on, you realize I'm going to take them off, so you don't come out of this a liar."

"Speid!" she groaned. "Then where are you taking me?! I'm in my pjs for cryin' out loud."

Putting their attention on each other, Speid looked to Aaron as they started to walk down the stairs, "Good God, she's winey in the morning."

Aaron chuckled, "She's winey all day, bro."

Trying a different tactic once they hit the ground floor, Jude started kicking her legs, but that only tightened Vincent Speiderman's grip around them. When she left for London two years ago he was taking shape, but now… He wasn't mistaken for a little boy anymore. Sure he still looked the same, but definitely had an adult appeal. He was stronger, the muscles in his arms shown more than before, and he'd kept his hair short. The raggedy surfer hair definitely stayed with his teen image.

As for Aaron, although he was just nineteen, he didn't look much to his age. He always had a goofy smile on his face—the same one since he was five, and kept his brown raggedy hair, always looking like a comb needed to be ran through it. Although puney looking, he held himself some strength as well, but he was as thin as a board. Not muscular built, but looks definitely deceiving.

"Guys!"

"Calm down Harrison." Speid said as they reached the front door, "We're goin' to Jamie's. We want you to hear the album and hang out."

Aaron looked up to her with a comic smile as he held open the door, making sure she didn't try to hold onto the frame again. "Is it that bad to hang out with us for a change?"

"I'll hang out with you guys, I don't care, but I was—"

"Writing." Both boys finished together.

Aaron chuckled before adding, "We know."

"You're always writing dude, I mean… Gees, way to get arthritis before twenty five." Speid said as they walked the few steps back along side Jamie's house. "But," he said in an approving tone. "I'd rather you become a write-a-holic than an alcoholic after break ups."

Jude quickly got defensive as she straightened up and looked down to Speid, "I'm not writing because of Tommy." That got a laugh out of the boys. "I'm not!" she declared, throwing her fist on Speid's back.

"Hey, hey, no need to get violent." He said up to her as they walked down the stairs. "Aaron, sustain her wrists, dude."

Aaron lightly chuckled before shaking his head. "Just let her down, bro, she ain't runnin'."

"Well, well," Jamie's voice entered Jude's ears as she felt Speiderman set her down. "If it isn't my long lost neighbor."

Feeling her feet hit the ground, she held onto the blanket that had been taken with her and turned to see Jamie walking over to them from his soundboard. "I've been kidnapped as you can see." She told him before he enveloped her in a hug. As she broke the embrace she asked, "And since when have I been reduced to neighbor?"

He smirked before putting his arm around her shoulder and leading her over further into the basement. "Since you've gone into hiding." Aaron said, following alongside Jude. At his statement, she threw her elbow back at him, but before she could throw back a response, Zepp, who was still seated at the soundboard, beat her to the punch.

"Give the girl a break. She broke up with her boyfriend, be thankful she's getting out of bed."

"Thank you!" Jude called as she took a seat in the chair across from the couch. Aaron and Speid quickly plopped down on the couch across from her, both taking up the majority of the couch as Jamie had taken his previous seat beside Zeppelin. "Where would you be if you and Karma broke up, Speid?"

He scoffed, "You mean divorced? Dude… I'd be hittin' that bar hard!"

"So you wouldn't be a write-a-holic?" she quipped. "Maybe guitar-a-holic?"

Aaron smacked his arm, "Guitar Hero, maybe."

Speid shook his head. "With how tough things are, dude… I don't even know. She needs somethin' to make her happy, and I'm not succeeding. But off the Karma subject," he said, changing the conversation he looked over to Jamie, "Play that demo, dude."

"With me?" Zepp asked, flipping through files on the screen as Speid nodded. "Here we go." She said as she found the correct file, and two clicks later a soft acoustic melody filled the room.

Jamie rotated his chair to look at Jude, saying, "This song is going to burn up the charts. It'll be the best rock and roll love song cross country."

Jude nodded, and the mention of a love song instantly brought thoughts of Tommy to her head, but she pushed them away as Speid's voice entered her ears, a quiet raspy voice she hadn't heard him sing before.

_**(I don't want this moment, to ever end. Where everything's nothin', without, you. I'll wait here forever, just to, to see you smile, 'cause it's true. I am nothing. Without, you.)**_

As Speid's lyrics played through her mind, she related them to herself. Without Tommy… The pass three weeks are proof she's nothing without him. She's barely left the house, luckily her bedroom.

_**(Through it all, I've made my mistakes. I'll stumble and fall, but I mean these words.)**_

The music broke momentarily as he cut into what she believed to be the chorus, and the soft acoustics that had been playing in the background changed to power chords, giving the song a great vibe.

_**(I want you to know. With everything, I won't let this go. These words are my heart and soul. I'll hold onto this, moment you know. 'Cause I'll bleed my heart out to show. That I won't. Let. Go.)**_

A quick transition switched to the opening chords once again before the music faded out completely leaving the room quiet and waiting for Jude's opinion, yet they were shocked to have seen tears in her eyes. Aaron was the first to his feet, as he walked over and sat between her and the arm of the chair, putting his arm around her shoulder and offering his shoulder.

Noticing the fact she was crying, she had allowed Aaron to comfort her, but quickly wiped at her tears. "I'm sorry," she sniffed, running a hand beneath her nose. "I'm okay, I…"

Aaron ran a hand soothingly up her arm. "It's okay to be sad. Everything's going to be okay; ya just gotta let him deal."

Thankful for being strong, she pulled herself together and straightened herself out of his hold, wanting to hold on and let everything out, but not then. Not when she was supposed to be hanging out and having fun with the friends she had left behind for almost two years. "It's a great song, Speid. You sound amazing."

He nodded uncomfortably. "Thanks, dude, I… I didn't mean for it to make you cry. First day of summer's supposed to mark how the whole season goes." He pointed out. "Don't start with tears."

She chuckled as she sniffed once again, "Then wake me when summer's over." Pulling her blanket closer around her, she looked to Jamie and asked, "So what's the delay their music man? You guy's have been down here for over two years almost."

Sighing, he leaned back in his seat, obviously irritated by the subject. "Thurman almost killed every chance of Speid getting a solo career after the stuff that went down on 'Rock and Roll Honeymoon.' Almost the whole time you were in London he and Karma went to hearing after hearing… It was nuts." Jamie explained.

Speid shook his head angry at the thought. "The dude took me and Karma for all we had, so I cut my ties from Jamie before they got him involved, but that left Jamie with nothing except a few garage bands that heard from word of mouth 'bout the label."

Rolling her eyes, Zepp shuddered, "I thought I'd heard the bad music before. Never did I think… They were bad, Jude."

"Needless to say, you got back when me and Karma were getting every straight again. She got a tour, and she's finishing an album now to go on another one. End of last summer was when every tie with Thurman was gone and I got back in studio here. Album's got about four more songs to be completed, and we got a lot of public appearances and show lined up for promotion."

Jude nodded, feeling guilty that she'd been absent at her friend's rough patch. When she'd been in London and Sadie had slipped that Speid and Karma were living in a trailer park, Jude couldn't believe it. Their court hearings of course were televised, so she caught a lot of what was going on, but hearing it from Speid… It hurt.

"It's good that you guys are back on your feet now. And you can show Thurman up when he sees how good your album sales get." Jude told him, hearing Aaron laugh from beside her.

"Yeah, man, he'd of wished he'd of waited to sue you now, instead of a year ago."

Speid gave a small chuckle before looking to Jude. "Well, enough about me, Harrison. You've been going solo for quite some time now. Any news on a new album? I mean, your fourth one came out…" he paused, remembering the date, "July 09."

Jamie waved his head back and forth, "Little under a year."

"And your point?" Jude asked.

"Well…" Aaron cut in, "You're writing enough songs for six albums. What's the delay on getting a contract with someone?"

Jude shrugged. "I just got back from tour like a month ago. I'm allowed to go a while without continuously being in studio."

"Ya know if you asked, Jamie'd let ya record here." Zepp offered.

Jamie and Jude both let out a chuckle as Jamie said, "I'd hope she know that."

"Yeah," Jude said, agreeing that it was an obvious opening. "I just... I want to get out of my Dad's house… Get on my own, live a little and if I want to put out another album I will."

"Well," Zepp said, rolling her chair a bit to see Jude in a better view, "If you're looking for a place to stay, me and my roommate were lookin' for a third person to split the rent and such with."

Jude furrowed her eyebrows, looking to Jamie questioningly before he answered for her. "Nana would not like."

Zeppelin giggled before looking back at Jude. "Anyway, the place is nice. You'd get your own room and it's not too far from here. Sorta by where Sadie and Michael live. Maybe five blocks from their place."

It sounded pretty good, but there was one more thing Zepp needed to clarify for her. "Who's your roommate?"

"Charlie." She answered simply, yet Jude had no idea who that was, and once Zepp realized that she explained. "Friend I grew up with. Didn't like living in New Mexico anymore and knows music as much as everyone in the room put together."

Jude nodded before looking to Jamie, "And you're cool with a guy shackin' up with us?"

Jamie quickly shook his head with an innocent grin on his face, "No, no. Charlie," he paused to let out a small chuckle and looked at Zepp with her own amusement on her face. "Charlie's short for Charlotte. It's her nickname. She's a girl." Looking at Zepp once more for a more appropriate title, he said, "She's like our own, on call musical back up."

With everything making sense, Jude nodded. "Well, any friend of yours…" she said, not having to finish the statement. "When do we all move in?"

"She's getting some of her stuff moved in now. Whenever you're ready just bring your stuff over. You have my cell; if I'm not here I'll drive over with my truck and help get your stuff."

Aaron let out a groan and Jude quickly looked up to him. "What?" she asked as he pouted.

"You just moved back in." he said, and she threw her arm around his waist in a hug.

"Sorry, punk. You won't miss me too much. I wine remember?"

He playfully butted his head to hers, "But I like your wine. Makes me feel like I'm the older one."

A quick jab from her elbow went to his ribcage and Aaron jumped from his seat, rubbing where she'd hit him. "Gees. Take her now Zepp, take her now!"

Jude shook her head at him as she smiled, knowing by moving out she'd definitely miss him. Her father and Lauren were great, but… She'd felt as if she moved out when she left for London, because although her stuff resided in her childhood bedroom, there was hardly a night she didn't sleep at Tommy's.

"Anyway," Jamie cut in, "What's this big surprise you have for us Speid?"

"Surprise?" Jude asked, looking to Speid and Aaron, "You guys didn't say anything about a surprise."

"Would that have gotten you out of bed quicker, Harrison?" he teased before standing up and pulling out his wallet. "My friends," he announced, "I present to you, what resides here in my wallet a true blessing."

Snorting at him, Jude rolled her eyes and she realized just how much she missed him over the past few years. Watching as he opened his wallet, where the bills would usually be he pulled out white tickets, the name of the event not visible, but Speid didn't wait long to announce the event.

"Thanks to Myspace secret shows, I present to you, six Sum 41 tickets performing at 'The Chain,' tonight at nine."

Eyes widened about the group, and Aaron quickly counted heads, thankful there were enough tickets. "Quincy may think he's hott shit scoring +44 tickets' 'cause he knows Barker, but hell, I'd chose Whibley's hard alternative rock riffs, to Mark Hoppus' electronic pop shit any day."

"Wait, wait, wait." Jude said, cutting in to make sure she'd heard him right. "You know Deryck? When—how did that happen?!"

Speid chuckled, "Got another celeb crush, Dude? Nah, Karma and I got offered a spot on a late night talk show. I don't remember which one at the time, and Sum 41 was the band performing. We talked a bit backstage and he said he'd help us out whenever we needed it. He got Karma to open for Avril on that tour last year and it was the only way Darius let her tour. With all the bad publicity she was getting, and Quincy being on a power trip, Darius almost canceled her contract."

Jude winced, "Ouch. But that's great that he helped you out. Pulled some strings for you guys."

He laughed, "The dude's a saint. He sent me a message this morning and told me to hurry down to 'The Chain' and grab these."

"Well seeing as you have an extra ticket, you mind if Charlie had it? That way she and Jude can get to know each other before we're all thrown under the same roof." Zepp asked.

Speid was quiet for a moment, thinking it over before nodding his head. "Yeah. Karma wouldn't have any fun. It's a closed session, so no photographers are allowed inside." Looking to Jude, his expression was of disbelief, "I swear the girl goes through spotlight with drawls. If her picture doesn't get taken once while she's out shopping and such, she's… There is no word to describe what she is."

The rest of the morning was spent with reminiscing before Jude was allowed back to the house to get ready for the show. Alone in the house felt weird, for her father and Lauren were out for the weekend, celebrating their anniversary, and Aaron went to meet up with his roommate from college who had just gotten back from town. Aaron claimed Caleb to be Jude's biggest fan, but that was something she had heard everyday. She was used to the declaration.

On the G Major side of town, Sadie and her fiancé Michael made their way into the studio in search of one man, and one man only. To say they both saved each other would be an understatement. Before the couple had met, Sadie was just leaving G Major, having serious doubts if she'd make it anywhere else, and Michael was a hot shot writer who couldn't stay out of trouble. He was amazing at his job, but outside…

With no one to be serious for, he screwed around a lot, drank, went to parties, got in fights. He was a scrapper; a hobby he'd picked up in his teen years and carried onto his adult life. Thankfully he could back himself up because if someone challenged him, they didn't see the next day. However his appearance always begged to differ.

He wasn't a small guy, around six foot, and in almost perfect shape. His hair was light, and his eyes were a dark brown, giving him an innocent appeal. The smile on his face held some what crooked teeth, but it only made him more attractive to Sadie who fell in love with his smile the first time he smiled at her.

Fingers laced together, they strolled through the lobby without a care in the world before approaching studio A and seeing Tommy with his headphones on, listening to Milo's current recording session. "Should we wait till he goes on break?" Sadie asked before they walked in.

Michael smiled before tapping on the glass, "You kidding? Tom hates working with that kid." Walking into the room, Tommy looked up and put a smile on his face at the two before them.

Removing his head phones, Sadie caught Milo give an aggravated eye roll before his guitar playing stopped, but didn't think twice about it, putting her attention on Tommy who was greeting Michael with a strong handshake. "Michael man, it's been forever."

When Jude had left for London, it wasn't long after words that Sadie left G Major and met Michael. Having built a friendship relationship with Tommy as she had dated Kwest and he had dated Jude, she called to check up on him a few times, after Jude left him how she had. At first he was polite but didn't accept any of her invitations out, until he started to date again.

He never wanted to be alone with the girl, wanting that back up that Sadie had promised and it was almost a regular double dating pack that her, Tommy and Michael had formed. The boys had also formed a great friendship which after Kwest quit and Jude dumping him, he needed someone to bullshit with.

Tommy had started to date Calie a while after he got back in his game, and although it made Sadie ecstatic to see him happy, it killed her at the same time to see it wasn't with Jude. She knew very well Jude had dated a few different people, but never took it serious. More of little flings than anything, yet what Sadie felt most uncomfortable about was that she liked Calie. She even thought she was good for Tommy. But then Jude came back and things went back to normal. Sadie and Michael double dated with Jude and Tommy, and the four didn't want it any other way.

"That it has." Michael replied before his expression got sympathetic, "I'm uh… Sorry to hear about your Dad, Tom."

Sadie nodded, showing her sympathy over the subject as well, and Tommy quickly tightened up at the mention of his father's passing. "It's okay… I'm… I'm gettin' by, ya know? Tryin' to keep my mind off it."

"Maybe if you'd try answerin' your phone we coulda got together for something sooner. I mean it's summer, man." Michael told him.

Ignoring what Michael had to say, Tommy nervously looked to Sadie. "You mad at me?"

Confusion fell over her face. "What? Why would I…" she paused before realizing why she could be upset with him. "Because of Jude? Tommy you guys are adults. I mean… I'd rather not get in the middle of this one."

Nodding, he didn't push the matter, but couldn't help to ask, "How's she doing?"

"Dude," Michael cut in, seeing Sadie turn her expression to a narrowing glare on Tommy. "Don't."

Again, Tommy nodded and put his hands up in a surrendering motion. "Sorry."

Sadie shook her head, "Don't worry about it. But we can't stay for too long," she said, digging in her purse. "We have quite a few to drop off, so…" her words trailed off before she found what she had been searching for and pulled out a white envelope tied with a ribbon on the front.

Holding out his hand, he took the invitation. "This for your guys big day?" he asked, and both nodded with smile's filling their faces that they couldn't hold back.

"You're gonna be my best man, right Tom?" Michael asked, knowing the answer already.

Tommy chuckled, "Do I gotta wear a tie?"

Placing her purse back on her shoulder, Sadie leaned into Michael lovingly before threatening Tommy in her sweetest voice, "If you ruin my big day because you don't match what I tell you to match I swear I'll kill you."

The smile she ended her threat with gave him a shot of chills, but he smiled back to them and nodded his head. "I'll be sure to get a good tie for you guys."

Michael laughed. "Alright, well man it's good to see you. Sorry 'bout your Dad again. But keep your damn phone on so we all can go out sometime."

Tommy nodded before seeing Sadie detach herself from Michael and approach him, her following actions shocking him as she reached out and pulled him into a hug. Looking over her shoulder, he didn't hug her back right away until he saw Michael shrug at Sadie's actions.

"I'm sorry about you and Jude, Tommy. You both seem miserable without the other." She whispered to him before pulling out of the embrace. "I really hope everything works out for both of you."

Tommy couldn't find words to say, but Sadie didn't really expect a response. She was once again by Michael's side and Tommy was brought back to where he'd been before they showed up. Turning back to the soundboard, he saw Milo had abandoned his session, but Tommy didn't have the energy to go find him. Instead he walked over to the couch and collapsed on his back.

For a moment he just laid there until he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Going through the menu he opened up an old text that he'd saved months ago from Jude when she was on tour. He'd never deleted it, because it calmed him, and it was times like these that the single message made everything wrong in his life disappear.

Opening the saved text it read: _'Im just texting u to tell u that i love you n miss u n no matter what ill always b there for u. Ur my reason to smile n nothing will change that. i love you tommy 3 jude.'_

A smile was brought across his face, and he felt the need to talk to her overwhelm him, but fought it off. He wasn't ready yet. He couldn't do it.

Speid and Jamie occupied the front seat of Speid's Eclipse as Jude and Zepp sat in the back. The boys were talking about the album which gave Zeppelin some time to fill in Jude on Charlie before they picked her up at the apartment they'd all be living at.

"Charlie's… She's blunt, speaks her mind," Zepp explained, as Jude held onto her journal in her lap. "But she's really good with music and writing, and I swear there isn't an instrument I haven't heard her play."

Jude nodded, "So she's like… musically gifted."

Hearing the conversation, Jamie piped in from the front seat, laughter in his voice. "'Cept she can't sing a note."

"This girl sounds tight as hell." Speid said, looking to Jamie who gave a nod. "Is she just a music chick though? Like is she as obsessed with it as Jude is with writing lately?"

Having being sitting behind him, Jude leaned forward and smacked the top of Speid's head. "Hey, hey, hey!" he yelled, ducking his head slightly, but keeping his eyes on the road. "No hitting the driver!"

Laughing at the two, Jamie answered Speid. "To answer your question, she's a ball of energy. I mean, the chick never stops—"

"It's 'cause she has A.D.H.D James," Zepp told him. "But she doesn't. She lives by not giving a care, and wants to live everyday like it's her last."

Speid nodded his head. "Sounds like a tight ass chick."

Again Jude smacked the top of his head, and before he could ask what for, she answered. "You're married!"

Needless to say, Charlie had been everything Jamie and Zeppelin had said about her. They picked her up and she talked almost most of the car ride about the 'stupid neighbors who need to mind their own' at how loud her music was. Not giving Jude a plus in her book exactly, but she zoned out writing away in her journal for most of the ride. That was until Charlie took a peak at what she was writing and voiced an opinion.

For being such a tiny girl, she had a huge personality that was for sure. She pranced out to the car in an old Sum 41 t-shirt and ripped jeans. Her converse sneakers were drawn all over with white out and permanent marker of a bunch of lyrics and such, making her wardrobe appropriate for the punk rock show they were headed to. Charlie could also pull off the sweet and innocent look, for she was tiny, had her hair tied into a ponytail like she was in high school with her bangs tucked back behind her ears. All hiding the badass that she was.

"What's that song for?" Charlie asked, looking over Jude's shoulder into her journal.

Quickly, Jude brought the journal to her chest, covering what she'd been writing. "Uh… it's… It's just a song."

Holding her hand out, she asked, "Can I see it?"

Feeling uncomfortable, Jude almost said no, but didn't want the awkward tension to be there if they all became roommates. "It's just for fun, getting my head cleared."

Charlie read over the mess of lyrics Jude had written over the page and after had read the song she let out a chuckle. "The songs called seven things I hate about you, and the only verse you have done is about the seven that you like?"

At that, Jude reclaimed her journal. Defensively she spoke, "There's negative things on there too. I just… It's hard to think of seven."

"Is the song about Quincy, Jude?" Speid asked, but she only shot him a death glare in the rearview mirror.

Charlie held one hand up as if surrendering, but the other open to take the journal once again. "Before you think I'm making fun of your song, I'm not. I actually think it's got a good vibe to it. Hella fun to record."

Listening, Jude slowly handed the journal back over along with her pen, as Charlie did her magic. "Okay, I see your little list of negative stuff here." She said, reading over the word 'hopeless' and thinking of a different word to use. "Here!" the pen flew quickly across the paper, crossing out 'useless' and replacing it with another word.

Jude looked down to the journal and read what she had changed. "You're vain, your games, you're insecure." Jude slowly nodded her head, but the verse was still way far from finished.

"Does he play with your head?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, unsure of what kind of games Charlie was referring to.

"'Cause watch, we can finish this line like this…" she said, scribbling away before reading what she had added. "You're vain, your games, you're insecure. You love me, you like her. And then you can follow with these other two so…"

Jude nodded her head, liking the spin Charlie was putting on the song. "You're vain, your games, you're insecure, you love me, you like her. You make me laugh, you make me cry… Uh…" Shrugging her shoulders as she found a line to follow she said, "I don't know which side to buy?"

Laughing, Charlie looked down to the journal and counted that they had five things, but before the two could carry on Speid pulled into the back of 'The Chain' and the writing was going to have to be put on hold.

"I think that songs gonna be fun to record, Jude." Charlie told her as they climbed out the backseat going through Speid's side.

Jude nodded her head as she crawled out first, awkwardly stepping out of the car. "Gees, Speid, we're not taking your car next time. It's always a pain to get out of."

Speid put a cocky smile on his face before replying, "Well… I never have a problem getting out of the car." And no sooner did those words leave his mouth did Charlie's foot catch on the seatbelt and she tripped out. Seeing her falling, Speid reached out just before it was too late and Charlie became introduced with the asphalt.

"Shit!" she cried, scared she would have almost ate it. Getting herself steady on her feet, she felt Speid's arms still steadying her. "Thanks."

He nodded. "No problem, dude."

Jude chuckled, "Looks like Speidy's got Spidey senses."

Before Speid could think of a witty response, Aaron came rushing up the alley and joined them by the car. "Guys forget about me?"

"Dude you were chillin' with Caleb." Speid replied, feigning hurt, but Aaron ignored him as his eyes fell upon who he believed to be Charlie.

Nodding his head toward her, "You Charlie?"

"That'd be me." She said, sticking her hand out that Aaron openly shook. "Who are you?"

"I'm Aaron." His head nodded toward Jude, "Sorta her step brother. Our parents are shackin' up together."

"Wow, I know more about you then I know my own neighbor." She replied before following after the group without another word toward Aaron.

Standing there dumbfounded by her answer he heard Jude's chuckles before feeling her grab hold of his arm and drag him along the way to the back entrance. "C'mon Lil Bro. What took you so long to get here anyway?"

He let out a sarcastic chuckle. "You're number one fan." He replied as Jude rolled her eyes. "Ya know…"

"I've heard it, Aaron." She replied.

"Well can you at least meet the guy? He was my roommate last year, he's real cool." He said, stopping in his tracks, causing Jude to stop with him, "Get the guy off my back about you."

"Oh, and that's gonna get me to meet him?" she asked while crossing her arms over his chest.

Aaron went and put his arm around her shoulder while leading her in the back door, "Jude, Jude, Jude. I don't mind talkin' about you all day, but when Caleb is constantly…" he put his hand out in front of them and then curled it into a fist, "He's just never met anyone famous, and he knows my mom's stayin' with your Dad and all."

"I'll send him an autograph then." She said before getting from his grip and heading off to find the rest of the group.

"_Well it's us against them! I'm here to represent! And spit right in the face of the establishment!"_ Deryck Whibley sang into the microphone, playing his guitar like there was no tomorrow. _"And I wanna believe!"_

"_Well you're frankly nothing."_ Cone sang, the two alternating turns at the mic.

"_Stand on my own!"_

"_A little sym-pa-thy."_

Deryck smiled through the next line when he caught sight of Speid and his group. _"Wastin' the youth!"_

"_I'm feeling young and useless."_

"_Speak for yourself."_

Finishing before the chorus came to play, Cone sang, _"Some blindfolded cause."_

Jude had never been to any Sum 41 shows before, and although they were a band she had grown to like over the years, she found it entertaining, at how much Deryck put himself into the music on stage.

"_Well because we're doing, fine. And we don't need to be told. That we're doin' fine, 'cause we don't need your control."_ She saw how he moved with the music and stayed on his game and it brought a smile to her face, making her miss the times on stage. _"And we, don't, need, any, thing, from you. 'Cause we'll be just fine, and we won't be bought or sold. Just like you!"_

The beginning intro played before they jumped into the second verse of the song, as Jude looked to the group she was with. Jamie and Zepp were all over each other as they listened to the set, Aaron had already found some girl to fawn over him, and Speid and Charlie were getting along quite well too. Leaving her alone.

Slipping away from the group, Jude pulled out her cell phone and went into the bathroom. She was ready to break down, and as much as she hated to do it, she pressed call on Tommy's number and placed it to her ear. Needing to hear his voice.

The phone sitting on his dresser started singing as a call came in. _**(I know rocks turn to sand, and that hearts can change hands. And you're not to blame, when the sky fills with rain, but if we stay or walk away. There's one thing that's true. I still love you.)**_

In the shower, Tommy turned the water off, just as the ending of the ring tone entered his ears, and he quickly ran out, throwing a towel around his waist, but by the time he got to the phone it was too late. The ringing had stopped, but that didn't stop him. He quickly hit call, to call her back from his missed calls list displaying on his screen, but his heart dropped when only got her voicemail. She'd turned her phone off.

"This is Tommy. Leave me a message." His voice entered her ears and she felt the tears sting her eyes, and seconds later she heard her own voice enter in the message. "Leave a message!" she had called from the background.

She remembered the day he'd set up his new voicemail. She was lying back on his couch as he sat near her feet, holding them in his lap, ever so often tickling her legs as he recorded the short message. She couldn't hold in to add her own spice to it, and when Tommy left it as is, it made her feel more and more love for him.

"Tommy, it's Jude… I… Ignore this, okay? Don't call me back; I just needed to hear your voice as pathetic as I sound." She paused a moment, being stronger than she could ever remember for not letting her tears drop. "I hope you're doing okay."

She then ended the call and placed her phone back in her pocket and stood over the sink, pulling herself together before she joined everyone back in the club.

As he ran a towel through his hair a chime came from his phone, alerting him that he had a voicemail. Quickly abandoning his current action he hurried to his phone and called his voicemail. Hearing her message broke his heart and he wanted to ignore her plea for him not to call her back, but it was obvious he couldn't. It was obvious that she wasn't okay, and truthfully, he wasn't okay yet either.

Walking into the club, an oldie but goodie was being played, and she instantly spotted Speid, Charlie and Aaron looking for her.

"_Maybe we're just trying too hard, when really it's closer than it is too far."_ Deryck sang as Steve hit the bass drum harder and harder until the chorus came into play, the crowd not being able to help but sing along. _"'Cause I'm in too deep, and I'm trying to keep, up above in my head, instead of going under."_

"Where the hell were you?!" Aaron quickly demanded as she joined the three. "We thought you got lost in a mosh somewhere."

Jude looked around, not seeing anyone around moshing, and decided to let Aaron know so. "No one's even moshing."

"Doesn't matter, Dude." Speid cut in. "We gotta stick together."

At those words, Charlie couldn't keep her mouth shut anymore. "Jesus, guys. She's twenty one years old. I don't think she needs a babysitter twenty-four seven."

Jude smiled. "Thank you!" Looking up to the stage, Deryck jumped into his guitar solo, and Jude couldn't help but tease Speid. "Can you pull that off, Speid?"

Looking back to her he gave her a sarcastic grin before replying, "Ha, ha."

"_I can't sit back and wonder why. It took so long for this to die. And I hate it, when you fake it. You can't hide it, you might as well embrace it. So believe me, it's not easy. It seems that—"_ the music quickly cut, as he threw his fist into the air, finishing, _"something's tellin' me!"_

Quickly the music rejoined him and his fingers were quickly back on the frets, playing the rest of the song. _"I'm in too deep and I'm tryin' to keep, up above in my head, instead of going under, 'cause I'm in too deep and I'm tryin' to keep up above in my head, instead of going under, 'stead of goin' under. Instead of goin' un—der again, 'stead of going under, Instead of goin' under aga—ain. Instead of goin' under, again, 'stead of goin' under again"_

The lyrics came to their end, as Deryck and Cone played their finishing chords, acting as if they were in a face off. When the last note echoed off the walls, the whole crowd started cheering out of control, and seeing everyone she was with hollering at the top of their own lungs, Jude couldn't help but do the same.

Walking back up to the mic, Deryck ran a hand over his forehead and threw his fingers quickly through his hair before speaking to his fans. "Thank you. Thanks so much. It's great to play in our hometown again, and just for you guys," he said having more cheers join throughout the crowd, "Just for you all, here's another crowd favorite."

Everyone started cheering again, before he yelled into the mic, "And you better recognize this one!" Quickly Deryck jumped backwards playing the all too familiar opening to one of their all time famous songs, 'Fat Lip.' Cone and Steve jumped in and the crowd went crazy, and for the first time since her and Tommy broke up, Jude was happy. She was out, enjoying herself, listening to great music with people she loved and that would always be there for her.

"_Stormin' through the party like my name is El Nino!"_ Steve yelled to his own mic, before Deryck ran up to his own.

"_While I'm hangin' out drinkin' in the back of my El Camino!"_

"_As a kid!"_ Steve once again sang.

"_Was a skid!"_

Joining in with the two, Cone sang, "_And no one knew me by name!"_

"_I crashed my own house party,"_ Steve shouted, before Cone and Deryck joined in, all three singing, _"'Cause nobody came!"_

Playing the chords he was to be playing, Deryck came up to the mic, putting everything he had into the chorus, _"I know, I'm not the one you thought you knew back in high school. Never goin', never showin' up when we had to. It's attention that we crave, don't tell us to behave, I'm sick of always hearin' act your age!"_

The crowd joined in, singing along with him, before Jude felt Jamie put his arm around her, encouraging her to sing along with the rest of them. _"I don't wanna waste my time, become another casualty of society. I'll never fall in line. Become another victim of your authority, and back down!"_

It came to show Jude that by the end of the night, it's the people you're with that make it fun. She'd been a fan of Sum 41's music, but not enough to stand in the pouring rain for concert tickets. Yet even though they weren't her favorite band, she'd had more fun, singing along, losing her voice screaming and just plain hanging out with her friends. It was a memory she was going to keep with her for a long time.

When the show had ended, both Speid and Aaron had lost their voice almost. It was scratchy and raw, which only made Jude and Charlie laugh about. In the car, Aaron had to squeeze in the back seat with the three girls, which they were thankful he was tiny too, but Speid's car was technically only designed for two back there. To say the ride home was comfortable would have been a lie, but it sure was entertaining.

Charlie and Zepp were dropped off first, and the girls made arrangements with Jude to start moving in the following day. Of course Aaron pouted, but she only ignored him. When the girls were securely inside, Speid pulled out and drove to Jamie and Jude's street.

Getting out of the car to allow Jude to exit the backseat, Speid quickly took hold of her arm. "Did ya have fun, Dude?" he asked, his voice a little squeaky, and she couldn't help but nod and smile.

"I did. Thank you, Speid." She replied, stepping in to give him a hug. "I'll try not to be a couch potato anymore."

He smirked as they broke the embrace. "We need to jam together, alright. Maybe do a duet or something, yeah?"

Jude chuckled while giving him a nod. "Maybe." She offered before feeling Aaron at her side. "I'll see you guys later."

Jamie waved his goodbye as he walked up to his own door, before Aaron and Speid shook each other's hands as a goodbye. Speid got back into his car, and Jude and Aaron made their way inside.

"I guess I'll help you move tomorrow." He said as they walked through the front door. "Because I'm a nice guy."

Taking her coat off, she only smiled at him. "You're a dork. But that's okay." She said before heading up the stairs.

"I'm your dork though!" he called as he ventured toward the kitchen.

Almost at the top of the stairs she yelled back, "Good night Aaron." and proceeded on her way to her bedroom to get some much deserved sleep.

"I was thinking." Charlie said as she sat atop Jude's dresser in their new apartment. Boxes of Zepp's, Charlie's and now even Jude's filled the living room, along with their own furniture scattered about. Jude's acoustic guitar was leaning against the dresser in which Charlie was sitting atop, and as Jude walked back into the room, ready to take another box down the hall to her bedroom, she watched Charlie take it into her own possession.

Strumming once, open note, Charlie voiced, "We should take a break and work on that song."

Picking up a box, Jude asked, "What song?"

Watching her venture back to her room, Charlie hopped down, keeping the acoustic with her and followed after her. "Seven things."

In Jude's bedroom, her bed had been shoved in the far corner where the rest of the room consisted of her belongings. Boxes, totes, tubs, bags all covered the majority of the floor, but what Charlie was in search of was in plain sight on Jude's bed.

"Don't you want to finish putting this place together? We're making great progress in one day." Jude asked, watching Charlie go over and take Jude's journal from the bed. "Uh, un. No, give that here."

Throwing the journal behind her back, "Calm down, calm down. I'm just looking for that song we were writing last night."

Inhaling, Jude relaxed a bit, knowing there wasn't anything in the journal that she didn't care if Charlie read. "It's toward the back."

Charlie gave her a thankful nod and brought the journal before the two again. "C'mon. There's a room upstairs I haven't shown you yet."

Jude looked at her curiously, but Charlie didn't give her anytime for questions before exiting the room. Going after her, they walked down the hallway back into the living room before heading up the circular stairwell to the second level of the apartment. At the top, there was a small loft, in which a few more boxes resided, yet not as cluttered as it was downstairs. "This way." Jude heard Charlie call, as they walked over to two doors.

Nodding toward the one of the left, Charlie identified it, "That one's my room."

Jude nodded before the door on the right was opened and Charlie walked inside, "Whoa…"

Looking back to Jude, she stood to the side to allow her in. "And this is my studio."

The room was small, and still had some unpacking to do, but still took Jude into shock. Charlie seemed to own just about every equipment needed to record a song, and it seemed that that's what they were going to do. Dragging a stool from behind a few boxes, Charlie sat atop of it and tossed Jude the journal. "We need a break." Those four simple words, being in the room, made Jude forget about the mess downstairs, and before she knew it, her and Charlie were wrapped up in the song.

Sitting atop an amplifier, Charlie had her own electric-acoustic plugged in as Jude held a microphone in her hand, while unknowingly being recorded. Playing an opening, Charlie nodded her head, before Jude sang into the mic, a playful demeanor to herself, just living the moment and having a blast. _"I probably shouldn't say this, but at times I get so scared, when I think about the previous, relationship we shared. It was awesome, but we lost it. It's not possible for me, not to care."_

Bobbing her head, Charlie continued to play as Jude paused a moment, moving to the music as she did so. _"And now we're standing in the rain, and nothin's ever gonna change until you hear, my dear."_

The music quickly cut, before Jude threw up her shoulder, singing in a sassy voice, _"The seven things I hate about you!"_ Charlie was playing once again, quicker this time and higher on the frets, giving the song a rougher edge. _"The seven things I hate about you. Oh, you."_

With such sass, such attitude, Jude moved about the small space, quickly singing with the beat, throwing her head side to side as she did so. _"You're vain, your games, you're insecure. You love me, you like her. You make me laugh, you make me cry, I don't know which side to buy. You're friends, they're jerks when you act like them, just know it hurts. I wanna be with the one I know."_

Letting up on the roughness of the song, Charlie still played harder chords, but at a slower pace, as Jude finished out, holding the notes as she did so. _"And the seventh thing, I hate the most that you do—o. You make, me love you."_ And Charlie was back to playing the easy opening chords.

Calming down a bit, Jude threw her hair out of her face before beginning to sing the second verse of the song. _"It's awkward and silent, as I wait for you to say. 'Cause what I need to hear now, is your sincere apology. When you mean it, I'll believe it. If you text it, I'll delete it, lets be clear."_

Through the pause, both girls smiled over the lyrics as a transition chord was heard, and Jude finished the verse off. _"Oh, I'm not coming back. You're taking, seven steps, here."_

Once again, the music paused as Jude sang, "_The seven things I hate about you!_" and she was thrown into the chorus, spitting out one after another of the seven things. Her head bobbed violently with the music, up and down to the quick beat that Charlie produced. As the music changed, Jude, whose hair was in her face again, threw her head back. _"And the seventh thing, I hate the most that you do. You make me love you."_

Jude hadn't known Charlie had been recording the session from the time they sat there singing and working on the song, and when it had finally sounded right, Charlie was ecstatic, yet Jude was the complete opposite.

"Is everything okay?" Charlie asked, noticing the far off look on her new friends' face.

Staring intently at the journal, Jude nodded her head slowly, but not assuredly. "It's just… I don't hate anything about him," her voice began to quiver as she took a seat. "After every heartbreak, every fight… I love him. I don't hate him. I don't think I could ever hate him, or anything about him."

To clarify things, Charlie asked, "This song's about Tommy?" still unsure of exactly who Tommy was. Knowing music and the artist nowadays didn't mean she kept up with their personal lives. When Jude nodded her head, Charlie was at a stand still, not knowing how to act in the situation where Jude seemed she was about to break down. "He was your boyfriend."

Jude nodded. "Tom Quincy." She sniffed, holding back the tears at bay. "Little Tommy Q from BoyzAttack."

Recognizing his name now, Charlie nodded and actually remembered hearing about them dating for a while. "Why'd you guys…" unsure how and if to ask, she stuttered, before spitting out. "How come you guys split?"

A few tears fell from her eyes as she shook her head. "His Dad… His Dad just died and he needed t-time to him…" pausing she tried her best to hold it together. Drawing in a deep breath, she wiped at the few tears that escaped. "He needed time to himself."

"So it's not permanent?"

Jude shrugged, "I don't know… We were so happy. _So_ happy. I mean…" Looking up, she let the memory come to play. "Not even a week before we broke up… We were trying to have a baby. We talked about _kids_…" her voice began to shake again and she bit down on her lower lip, holding in the tears. "I couldn't even get lucky enough to get pregnant for assurance he'd stay with me."

"You're not pregnant?" Charlie asked, and Jude nodded. "Well… That's a good thing if you guys aren't on good terms. You don't exactly want the guy sticking around unless he wants to. Not 'cause you're pregnant and he has to."

Nodding, she silently agreed. The awkward atmosphere made Charlie uncomfortable, until an idea struck her head. "You need a rebound guy. Nothin' too serious, but just someone to get your mind off your ex for a while and make you happy."

Looking back to her, Jude's expression asked for an explanation. She didn't want to date anybody. Not now. She wanted Tommy. "I mean, let me see your journal real quick." Charlie said, holding her hand out for the journal resting in Jude's lap.

"Here." She replied, handing the book over. "Why, what do you want with it?"

Ignoring her, she flipped through pages until she found what she had been searching for. "This." Charlie answered, before reading aloud lyrics Jude had written long ago. "Remember when we were such fools, and so convinced and just too cool? Oh no. No, no. I wish I could touch you again. I wish I could still call you a friend, I'd give, anything. If someone said—"

"When did you find that?" Jude asked, coming to her senses as the song finally sparked recognition to her memory. She had written that when she had returned from London. When she had gone to see Tommy and he had told her basically she was nothing to him anymore. She was writing that before he busted open the rehearsal space door and made love to her. "That song's personal."

Continuing to scan over the lyrics, she added, "And a good start to clearing your head. You don't wanna date a guy, I mean… I can write Tom outta your system."

Getting defensive, "Why are you so persistent to me getting over Tommy?" Thoughts of Megan came to mind, and Jude felt her anger boil. "What if I don't want to get over him, huh?"

"Jude calm down. If you still want to fawn over him, that's fine. But for the past month everyone's said how you've kept to yourself. Continuously been writing and crying."

She had to look away from her, but it only allowed her to see things differently. "Okay. So I have been. I've loved him since I was sixteen years old, Charlie. I'm twenty-one, that's five years, five years of my life and I don't want to just hop to another guy."

Getting frustrated herself, Charlie made her point clear. "Okay, I'm not in no way shape or form telling you to stop loving Tommy. I can't say, 'hey you stop feeling that way,' and expect it to happen." She pointed out, causing Jude to cross her arms over her chest. "All I'm saying is don't stop living your life, because of the break up. Your friends miss you. And if writing a song is some form of closure, or hopping to another guy—I haven't known you that long to know. So I'm throwing out suggestions."

Jude sighed before giving a small nod. "You're right though. You've known me less than all my friends and pointed out the exact thing I need to do to get over the break up."

"Getting over the break up doesn't mean getting over Tommy, Jude." Charlie pointed out, and it made sense. "And what I see here is you have three options. Write a song, clear your head with some random dude at a club, or sulk."

Looking to Charlie, her anger had disappeared. "I started that song over a year ago. After my third album came out I got offered a contract with a studio in London. Tommy and I were gonna get married and go there together but… I changed my mind. Wanted to go alone and I did."

"I'm guessing Tom wasn't too happy." Charlie asked, and Jude quickly nodded.

"I didn't exactly give him a proper goodbye. I didn't even give him a goodbye." Jude told her, the shame in her voice evident. "When I got back he was in a relationship. Told me not to talk to him, consider him a friend—anything to him. I wrote that entry after words."

Curious, Charlie asked, "Then what happened? The song's unfinished."

A smile came over Jude's features. "He came and found me. We got back together because… We're it for each other. The girl he was with… He couldn't' go on with her knowing I still loved him."

Silent for a moment, Charlie hoped she wouldn't push a soar subject by offering, "Well we could, ya know, finish the song. I mean, the lyrics sound pretty promising here. I'm sure it'd kill the summer charts."

Jude let out a laugh. "Kinda hard without a label."

"Uh," Giving her a look as if Jude should've known better. "Jamie." Hopping off the amp, Charlie set the acoustic aside and grabbed her lime green, Fender Stratocaster. "C'mon. Throw out some lyrics." She challenged, playing a few notes off the top two strings.

Jude let her head bob to the beat before thinking of something, _"You took my hand, you showed me how._" She sang, thinking of starting from the beginning of their relationship. Her mind flew to how he first told her he loved her, at how much they'd been through to get to that point. _"You promised me you'd be around. I took your words, and I believed, in everything you said to me."_

Pulling her fingers from the frets, Charlie pushed the journal Jude's way, pointing toward the end of the page before turning back to her guitar, strumming two strings at once, besides one, keeping the tune, but stronger. "_If someone, said three years from now, you'd be long gone, I'd stand up and…"_

Charlie continued to play, glancing at the journal to see why Jude had stopped to see that the line hadn't been finished. Reading over the chorus Jude had written long ago, her head bobbed a bit before saying, "If someone said three years from now, you'd be long gone, I'd stand up and punch them out." Her hand motioned for Jude to write it down, and Jude quickly did as Charlie said.

When the lyrics were successfully written Charlie took it from the top of the chorus, nodding to Jude to continue what had been started. "_If someone, said three years, from now, you'd be long gone. I'd stand up, and punch them, out. 'Cause they're all wrong. They knew, better. Still you said, forever. And ever. Who knew?_"

Quickly Charlie switched back to playing the original intro before fading the song out completely. "Write that verse down." She told Jude as Charlie began to set up more recording equipment.

Grabbing the pen once again, Jude quickly wrote down the few lines she had sung while asking, "What are we doing?"

"We're recording this. And we're gonna get it to the radio stations. And we're gonna make sure the guy that broke your heart hears it." Charlie explained, dragging cords from boxes and hooking them from amplifiers, to microphones, all connected to the main system at her computer. Shaking the computer mouse, she closed her screen saver and quickly minimized the session for seven things. "That is only if you want to."

Charlie was looking at Jude over her shoulder, and Jude was at a stand still for a moment, but a small smile she couldn't hold back came over her features as she nodded her head. "Let's get this song out there."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x:**X**:x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"_You may be different, but I'm still the same."_

Hey guys I got a little challenge here for you. There's a song that's been stuck in my head for like two months now. I heard it at a party a couple weeks ago, but was a little tipsy and didn't think to write down the lyrics. So here's the deal. I'll write down the lyrics I do know, (which is like five words, :p) and whoever tells me the correct name of the song first gets a prize of your choice.

Below is a list of songs from the soundtrack of the story and I'm willing to send you that scene. For example, if you chose the song, 'Hear You Me,' the song Tommy sang for his Dad, what I'd send you would be from where the lyrics started to where they ended.

**So it'd start here:** Tommy began strumming away, Jude joining him, using the drum effects on the keyboard to hit a the snare and bass as he softly started to sing. _"There's no one in town I know. You gave us someplace to go. I never said thank you for that. Thought I might get one more chance."_

**And end here,** (with everything in between of course.) : _"May angels lead you in."_ he sang, the music cutting as did his line, before he felt tears finally roll down his cheeks.

(Some scenes may have a bit more following though.)

Almost all the songs are there, but there were a few I had to eliminate to not give away important things in the future, but these are still pretty good scenes, if you chose well ;).

No Air – Jordin Sparks Feat. Chris Brown Karma Feat. Frankie Dean

Let Me Go – 3 Doors Down Speid

Best of Me – Sum 41 Speid

Tuesday Morning – Michelle Branch Jude

Breakin' Dishes – Rihanna Karma

Broken – Seether Feat. Amy Lee Tommy Feat. Jude

I Can Do Better – Avril Lavigne Jude and the Speiderman Mind Explosion

Take A Bow – Rihanna Karma

With Me – Sum 41 Speid

Pretty Girl (The Way) – Sugarcult Speid

What About Now – Daughtry Tommy

So there's the choices of scenes, and here's the lyrics to the song, which unfortunately isn't a lot. I only know a bit from the chorus.

It's an R&B song, male singer, and it's slow—the chorus at least. The starting lyrics to the chorus go, "I know. Yes, I know. Na, na, na, na, na. Da, na, na, na, na, na." And it repeats it once more.

This is crazy I know, but everyone gets a song stuck in their head and I know I'm not the only one who gets driven nuts by it. My friend said it was called Mi Amor, but I didn't find the song through that. So it's not much to go by, but it's something and hopefully one of you guys know it :)

Just list the song title here, or PM it, whichever is easier and then I'll see if it's the right one and PM you the scene :)

Thanks Again!

And like I said, I'll post Chapter Four tomorrow on my way to work for you guys for sure.


	4. Violence

"One drink and the pain goes down, soft shadows lay by her feet

"_One drink and the pain goes down, soft shadows lay by her feet. Lay soft as you slowly drown, lay still as you fall asleep."_

"_Like violence, you have me. Forever, and after. Like violence, you kill me. Forever, and after."_

Violence

Jude's first song to hit number one on the charts was 'My Sweet Time' back in 2006. It'd been on the radio for quite some time, slowly crawling up the charts, but it had made it, and turned Jude's life right side up again at the time. Because once again, at that time Tommy had left her heartbroken, just like now.

_**(You took my hand, you showed me how, you promised me you'd be around. Uh huh. That's right.)**_

'Who Knew?' was the decided title to the song that Charlie and Jude had worked all night on. The girls didn't even see their bed till almost ten o clock the following morning, but slept well with a perfectly recorded song, ready to be thrown on an album. When they'd woken up early that afternoon, their first stop was Jamie's and after hearing the song himself, he didn't wait to have Zeppelin make her calls. After a little tweaking to the song himself, it was e-mailed out to the radio DJ's throughout the province.

_**(I took your words and I believed, in everything you said to me. Yeah huh. That's right.)**_

Like she had been an Instant Star, the single itself was an instant hit, climbing up the charts within just a few days. When in London, she had missed home terribly, and after her tour for her third album, she spent the end of 2008 in studio. Singles started leaking out to the radio early '09, so 'Who Knew?' was not only a treat as a new Jude Harrison single in over a year, but a rockin' song on top of it.

_**(If someone said three years from now, you'd be long gone. I'd stand up and punch them out. 'Cause they're all wrong.)**_

Buormonsey Records gave Jude a call when the single was getting known worldwide. They were curious to why MTV had called wanting to put together a music video for a song they were oblivious that Jude had recorded. The phone call wasn't pretty, and didn't end well. She had told them she didn't want the Rock Star life anymore, that she missed her home. They bargained to keep her living in Toronto, and London, flying back and forth to record when she was in session.

_**(I know, better, 'cause you said forever. And ever.)**_

When Jude wasn't accepting their offers, they threatened to sue her, however in the end, when she asked to speak with the Manager of the studio, he discontinued her contract without legal action, but it struck her record hard. She dropped them flat without warning and put out self produced singles on her own. Not something appealing to a studio who wants to sign artists. It wasn't a good trust factor.

_**(Who knew?)**_

Many radio stations called in for an over the air interview, and she only turned a few down, figuring it best to let her fans know she was still alive. DAS Studios contacted her once 'Who Knew?' hit number one, wanting her to perform live on set with Vince Boss, their late night talk show host. She'd had a few different offers, but took DAS up on that one since it was the studio Michael worked at and she knew Vince from small run ins with Michael and Sadie.

Sadie, Charlie, and Jamie waited backstage as Jude performed solo with DAS' band playing the correct notes to the song. The audience was over the top thrilled to see her show up, since she'd been a surprise performance that night.

"_Remember when we were such fools, and so convinced and just too cool. Oh no. No, no." _she sang, pushing the memories behind the song away, and trying to put on a great show for her fans. _"I wish I could touch you again. I wish I could still call you a friend. I'd give, anything."_

The music picked up, and Jude quickly threw herself into the chorus, pulling the mic from its' stand and walking along the perimeter of the small stage. _"When someone said 'count your blessings now, 'fore they're long gone.' I guess I just didn't know how. I was all wrong. They knew, better. Still you said forever. And ever. Who knew?"_

The intro guitar notes played with a bit of percussion as Jude mumbled out a simple, "_Yeah, yeah."_ And the music continued repeating as a bridge between the last half of the song. _"I'll keep you locked in my head. (My head.) Until we meet again. (Meet again.) Until we, until we meet again. I won't forget you my friend. What happened?"_

The drummer quickly hit the snare drum higher and higher, pushing the song into the chorus, and with a hit to the cymbal, Jude jumped back in, still holding the mic in her hand, but staying center stage. _"If someone said three years from now, you'd be long gone, I'd stand up and punch the—em out! 'Cause they're a—all wrong and!"_

The music was more powerful throughout the chorus this time, and Jude let the music take her in. Her eyes closed and this time around, she couldn't help but let herself drown in the memories of herself and Tommy. _"That last kiss, I'll cherish, until we meet agai—in. When time makes, it harder! I wish I could remember! But I'll keep, your memory! You visit me in my sleep. My darlin', who knew?"_

Once again, the introduction notes played as the bass player retired from the skit. The drummer and guitarists continued to play out the remaining part of the song, as Jude pulled herself back into reality, sadly singing, _"My darlin', my darlin'." _and shaking Tommy from her thoughts.

Placing the mic back in it's holder, Jude sang out a strained, _"Who knew?"_ before quietly singing again_, "My darlin', I miss you. My darlin',"_

Bringing eye contact to the audience, _"Who knew?"_ she sang as the drummer cut his performance leaving just the guitarist playing the simple twelve notes before Jude finished with a quiet, _"Who knew?"_ and the studio fell silent as the song came to it's end.

However the silence wasn't there for long before the crowd applauded like crazy. Whistles were heard, people stood up, and Jude couldn't help but smile as she turned to the band and thanked them with a nod.

"Jude Harrison everybody!" Vince said, standing from his seat and waving her over. "Who Knew? It's her new song out killing the charts right now." Looking to Jude she was just making her way to the couch near his seat. The set was set up close to most night show talk hosts sets. A desk was before Vince's seat and a couch and chair sat to it's left for their guest that night.

The large window showed the night life behind them, a truly breathtaking site as the set was nicely decorated for a comfortable atmosphere. "Jude, tell us," Vince spoke, taking his seat as she did. "Where'd the song come from? Last song we heard from you was back in early 2009. Is there a new album in the mix?"

Jude shook her head. "No new album. I'm currently not signed with a record company at the moment." She confessed receiving a curious look from Vince.

The guy was probably in his early thirties, with dark hair and bright green eyes. He had dimples almost permanently stuck to his cheeks with a smile to die for. His looks and personality made him a well known talk show host throughout the country and it was probably the main reason she agreed to the appearance.

"No record company?" he asked, "Then how…?"

She smiled before looking over her shoulder and pointing to Jamie standing off set near Sadie and Charlie. "I wrote the song with my roommate and we produced it through NBR under management of James Andrews."

Vince nodded his head knowingly now understanding. "Ah. NBR going to be with whom you sign with next?"

Jude shook her head. "I'm actually gonna ride solo for a while. I'm not ready to jump to recording once again."

A bunch of groans were heard from the audience voicing their disappointment of the idea. "I've had a busy couple of years since I've been eighteen and I'm ready to take a breath a relax for a while. I mean… 'Who Knew?' came out of nowhere, so I may sneak a few more songs out now and then if inspiration strikes, but… For now I wanna ride it out."

Adjusting in his seat to face her better, Vince went with what she had to say. "Lets do a recap here of your career, shall we? I mean, you win Instant Star, and your debut album flops." He announces, as Jude slightly winced at the memory. "But that doesn't stop you."

Cheers were heard from the audience at that, and Jude had to smile. "I'm thinking it was the red hair." She joked. "Since I've gone blonde I haven't had a bad album."

Vince laughed before turning to the audience. "Did no one like red haired Jude?" but the audience disagreed profoundly. A few requests were heard from her first album as the songs, 'Skin,' 'Twenty-Four,' and 'Your Eyes,' were shouted through the crowd.

"I guess you could die your hair blue and it wouldn't matter anymore." He said while turning back to Jude who had a beaming smile across her face. "Anyway, your first album didn't do so well, but your second one goes platinum. My Sweet Time hit number one—your first single to hit that spot, and then around time for the third Instant Star competition you posted those pictures on your website."

Jude shifted in her seat a bit, not uncomfortable about the memory, just it'd been a while since she'd even thought of that. It was almost five years ago. "I made a mistake, and I paid for it. If I offended anyone, I've apologized, but it just comes to show I'm human too."

"You are." Vince agreed. "But after your second album you were a bit quiet there. No tour followed this time, and we almost didn't see your third album for over a year."

"And a crazy year it was." She confessed. "I turned eighteen, lost a friend. I was in my first serious adult relationship. G Major closed, G Major opened. It was nuts."

"The first version of your third flopped as well." Vince pointed out, receiving a nod from Jude. "But the remix sold big time, and even got you recognized over in London."

That time of her life always made her a bit uneasy to talk about, however she wasn't going to show her being soft over it. "The incident where I was held hostage is actually what caught Buormonsey Records eye with me. G Major was a phase of my life I'd been wanting to get away from for a while and London was a great escape."

"There were a few rumors that you and Tommy Q had been engaged at the time before you chose to leave. Wanna clarify that?" Vince asked and she was a bit shocked at his question. Not once did she ever hear that anyone knew of her and Tommy's engagement.

She knew her hesitance to the question was pretty much a dead giveaway and if she answered honestly it would possibly lead down to a whole line of questions of their relationship that she just did not want to talk about on national television. "I don't really want to comment on my relationship with Tommy."

Giving her an understanding nod, Vince put a hand up. "Understood." He simply said. "So, if London was such a great escape for you… Why the return?"

"When I got to London I was ready for my own adventures, I wanted to live the life that Buormonsey Records was putting me in, and I did. I just missed home, and going out wasn't the same knowing my real friends and family were thousands of miles away."

"And you've been back since?"

"Last February. I toured a small tour for my third album, and when that was finished I wrote like crazy, got everything recorded, and by the end of January I was packing to come home while the studio did the final mixing." She answered, not thinking twice if her return home was really worth the while now.

He knew by asking the question he was taking a risk, but Vince had to keep the audience entertained. "Seems the first thing you got back when you returned was your former boyfriend, true?"

Keeping a smile on her face, Vince saw it was fake, and Jude knew he could tell she wasn't happy with the question, but didn't dodge it. "Yes, Tommy and I did get back together, but currently we're not together anymore, but like I said earlier I'd rather not comment on our relationship. It's one thing to ask about my personal life, but when it's involving other people like Tommy… You should ask him."

"Could this new song have any relevance to Tom?" Vince asked, and Jude couldn't believe how he just wouldn't give up.

With defeat in her sigh, she confessed, "I had Tommy in mind when this was written."

A good reaction was heard through the crowd, but Jude didn't think twice about it. She was having too hard of a time keeping herself together on stage after performing the song and now talking about how it was inspired. "Well, I hope you the best for you two." Vince said sincerely. "You seem to miss him."

In a way it was his way of apologizing for pushing the matter, and even though she didn't completely accept his apology, she appreciated the effort. "Like I said earlier. I'm ready to just live my life and relax. I chose rock star over normal two years ago and now I'm ready to live normal."

"And I'm sure you'll still take us all by storm." Vince replied before looking to the audience and then back to Jude. "We've got you here for a while more, but do you mind before we cut to a commercial if you give us one of those performances the audience was requesting earlier from your first album?"

The audience began shouting once again, and Jude couldn't deny them what they were asking of her. Putting a grin on her face, she asked for an acoustic guitar before making her way to where she performed 'Who Knew?' and began playing 'Twenty Four' for the crowd.

Seeing him hood up and glasses on, Milo prepared himself for his session with Tommy. After Jude left for London Tommy came into studio everyday hiding himself behind glasses, and Milo learned once not to piss him off when he was in those moods.

Having heard all the gossip the past week and a half over Jude's new single, Tommy had been too busy to catch it until he downloaded it that morning and threw it on his iPod. Now finally listening to the song it was making the heartbreak even worse.

"Quincy can we try to get through this session without breaking anything? I have a date I don't want to be late for." Milo said from the booth.

Tommy looked up, but before he could reply, Darius came in the studio, demanding his presence in his office. "Milo's session can be put on hold."

Ignoring Milo's comment, Tommy followed after Darius, unsure of why his boss was summoning him to his office. However his thoughts were answered when he saw paused on Darius' television was Jude from the television performance she made the other night. "You see this?" Darius asked, hitting 'play' and allowing the show to go on.

"Your fourth album and first out of the G Major studios was different from your second and third. A little softer. I mean… You're number one hit for the album was 'That Was Us,' and it was a ballad."

Jude nodded her head before commenting on his statement. "It was different because I wrote a lot of my feelings. I was on my own, missing my family and friends. Everything was different."

"So the songs all originated from real life experiences?"

"Not exactly. Like I said, a lot of it was how I was feeling, but some were just for fun. But—"

Darius paused the show, looking to Tommy. "Did you know about the single she put out?"

Rolling his eyes, Tommy welcomed himself to a seat. "That's why you called me in here?"

"That," Darius replied, "and I had a few things to run by you."

Tommy watched Darius walk around his desk and sit before him. "What do you think Jude would say if I offered her a contract again? More freedom this time."

"You think she'd sign with G Major?" Tommy scoffed. "You gotta be kidding me."

Getting upset with his answer, Darius asked, "Well why not? We put out two platinum albums for the girl. I've always given her what she wants for the most part."

"D," Tommy cut in, shaking his head at Darius' rambling. "You only offer her stuff when she's on good side with the publicity. Her tour ratings came in for 'My Returns' tour when she was back in town, and that's when you offered to negotiate it the first time—she's not stupid."

"You think I only want to sign her because she's getting good ratings again?" Darius asked with the irritation obvious in his tone.

Nodding his head, Tommy stood to his feet. "Why else does anyone want to sign an artist? But you pick and chose with Jude. You only want her when things are going bad with other artists and she's doing good."

"Watch it, T. I can say the same about you." And no sooner did those words leave Darius' mouth did Tommy throw his fist down on top of Darius' desk.

Anger now lining his own voice, Tommy spit out, "You've lost Kwest, Andrews, Liam, Sadie, and Jude from this record label because of how manipulative you are. Using all of them. Don't you dare accuse me of using Jude."

No words were replied back from Darius after Tommy's warning. Tommy only turned on his heel and excused himself from the office before stalking into the lobby. He needed a drink is what he needed. However, Tommy's thoughts and actions were put on hold as he collided into a familiar face on the way to studio A.

"Whoa, sorry… Barker?" Tommy stuttered out, straightening his posture, recognizing whom he bumped into.

Travis Barker, former Blink-182 drummer, was getting well known to the G Major studios the past few years. Knowing Darius after drumming some beats for Shay, he'd been called in a few times to record tracks for the artists listed within the studio. Tommy had produced the final mixes of all the tracks Travis recorded and the two had formed a small friendship over the sessions.

"Quincy, man, how's it goin' bro?" he asked, holding out his hand that Tommy shook back.

Raising his eyes, he replied, "It's goin'. You here for an artist?"

Travis nodded. "Yea' some new chick. Dunno her name."

"I can check on that for ya." Tommy told him, and Travis gave him a nod in return. "How long you gonna be in town for?"

Travis sighed, "Uh, not too sure. I was up here originally for a 'Famous' shoot this weekend, but that got canceled." That certainly got Tommy's attention, and Travis noticed it. "Yeah that means Calie's here, if that's what you were gonna ask man."

Seeing the knowing grin on Travis' face, Tommy smirked, but wasn't really sure if he wanted to go down that road. "She is." He replied casually.

"I can give you her new cell if you want. She's stuck in town for a while now filming for a guest appearance in some TV show. And now this weekend's free too."

Tommy ran a hand through his hair before gripping the back of his neck. "I don't know man. I don't think she'd wanna talk to me." Yet Travis was shaking his head before Tommy had a chance to continue. "I flat dumped her without any explanation and haven't talked to her since, man."

"Trust me, Tom. Trust me." His hands were up to have Tommy stop speaking. "If she treats you half of what she treats me, you're fine. I've broken her heart too, I mean… She's not one to hold a grudge."

He was silent, thinking over what to do in the situation. "You think she'd let me take her to lunch to apologize? I'm not looking to get with her again, but I mean… It always bothered me how I left things."

Travis nodded, "Here. I'll call Calie, and you go find where I'm supposed to go. She's busy today, but I'm sure you guys can get together tomorrow for sure, okay?"

It wasn't okay, but it was the best he could do with. Jude left him without a word, and Tommy basically did the same to Calie. He felt hypocritical and cruel, and never once had he been able to apologize to her. "Okay." He replied with a nod before heading over to the receptionist desk internally praying this wouldn't blow up in his face.

Buried deep below her blankets, Jude was snuggled warmly within her sheets and comforter in a peaceful sleep when her bedroom door slowly creaked open. The noise however did not disturb her as she slept on, yet the mystery person jumping on her bed did.

"Nooo," Jude wined, pulling the blanket more tightly around her. Even in her sleep, she knew who had woken her. She had been woken up like that from only one person for eighteen years.

"Yes." Sadie replied back, smiling at her sister. "C'mon Jude it's ten o clock."

A louder groan was heard this time as Jude said, "Then you should know to come back later. It's summer, I'm allowed to sleep in."

Sadie smiled and shook her head while pulling the blankets back. "We've got plans baby sister, so up and at 'em."

Jude gripped the sheets tighter, but Sadie was stronger. "I have no plans but to sleep."

"And your date." Sadie said, pulling the sheets successfully from Jude, who from Sadie's words, didn't fight it.

Sitting up, she looked to her sister, "Excuse me?" she asked.

"Your date. With Casey, or Carson—"

"Caleb." Jude replied, the irritance obvious in her tone.

Sadie nodded her head, "Yeah! That's it. Aaron said—"

Once again, Jude cut her sister off, "Aaron's not going to say anything for a very long time after I see him."

Before Sadie could question what Jude was talking about, as if on cue, Aaron strolled inside. Looking to her left, Jude grabbed a pillow and chucked it with all she could at his head, hitting him square in the face.

"Ah! Shit, dude?!" he said as the force of the pillow threw his head to hit the back of the door. "Good morning to you, too!"

"You set me up on a date with Caleb!?"

The annoyed look on his face disappeared as he noted the irritated looks on both Jude and now Sadie's face, who had caught on to why Jude was upset. "You didn't tell me she didn't know."

"Hold on, hold on." Jude cut in, "What did he tell you?"

Answering for Sadie, Aaron began to talk, but Jude quickly shushed him. "Ah, ah! I wanna hear it from Sadie."

Sadie looked to Aaron and then back to Jude. "He came over last night asking if Michael and me would double date with you and his roommate from college. I wasn't too for it, and thought Mike would say no for loyalty to Tom, but Aaron insisted it was just a friendly meeting."

"Which it is!" Aaron cut in, instantly receiving a death glare from Jude.

Sadie rolled her eyes, before going on. "Anyway, Michael took his lunch off, and Aaron said he made reservations for us at Petey's at noon today."

Sighing, Jude looked down before giving up and giving in. "Alright."

His eyes doubled in size as he looked up to Jude. "Excuse me? You're agreeing to do this?"

"Well you won't leave me alone otherwise. You already went behind my back to schedule this thing." Jude told him, annoyed.

Sadie looked between the two, before telling Jude, "Well, I don't know if I feel too comfortable doing this now, knowing you don't want to."

Shaking her head, Jude said, "It doesn't matter." Another sigh was released before she went on. "I mean, it's just lunch. What's the worse that could happen? Tommy finds out and gets jealous?"

"I don't know, Jude." Sadie told her. "If you're for it, I'm for it."

Jude nodded. "You'll be my back up if the guy turns out to be a geek?" she joked.

Nodding back to her sister, she asked, "And if this guy turns out to be Mr. Wonderful?"

That actually hadn't crossed Jude's mind. Charlie had mentioned getting a rebound guy. Aaron did as well, but never did she think by meeting his college roommate would she actually fall for him. Shrugging, she pushed away her thoughts as the reminder that this is what Tommy wanted crossed her mind and she replied, "Then Tommy should be happy, I'm happy."

Tentatively, Aaron stepped further into the room asking, "So this is a go? You'll meet him?" Jude nodded, and Aaron let out a sigh of relief. "Yes! I can finally get the guy off my back now."

Sadie rolled her eyes, as Jude asked him, "And are you joining us today for pizza?"

"Nah." He replied. "I'm getting my lip pierced at 12:30."

Both girls winced as Sadie asked, "And Lauren's letting you?"

Laughing, Aaron said, "My Mom doesn't know, are you kidding?! She'd flip!"

"And what do you think she's going to say when she sees the ring stuck in your skin?!" Sadie threw back, but Aaron didn't have an answer.

Shrugging his shoulders, he let out a small laugh. "Good thing my wonderful sisters both have very comfy couches when she kicks me out on my ass."

Sadie, Michael, and Jude got to Petey's around ten minutes till noon and were quickly seated in their reserved booth. For the time passing, they talked a bit about the wedding and Michael talked about the television appearance she made at his studio. They had higher numbers that night than they had in quite some time now.

"I just think it's amazing that you throw out one song in over a years passing and it goes to the top within days. Avril Lavigne's held the number one and four spot for almost a month." Michael raved on, "The numbers from the other night were crazy."

"What can I say?" Jude replied in a jokingly manner before the bell chimed above the door in the small pizza café.

All three heads looked to the door, and Jude swore she was going to kill Aaron when she saw him if the man standing in the doorway was his roommate. He was tall, with short dirty blonde hair. His eyes were a kind blue and when he had spotted Jude gaping at him, a sexy smile came across his face.

As he walked, his hips swayed seductively and if it weren't for Sadie kicking Jude under the table, her jaw would still be down. Aaron's roommate was a gorgeous, gorgeous man. "Jude?" he questioned, not really needing to, and the smirk on his face showed he felt a little ridiculous asking.

Her head slowly nodded up and down as a short, "Uh huh." left her lips.

He continued to smirk, trying to hold back a chuckle at his automatic effect on her as he held out his hand. "I'm Caleb. Aaron's roommate from college."

Eyes shifting to his hand he was holding out, she reached for it and shook it, replying with a, "Nice to meet you." basically breathing out the words, still in shock at how he looked. She was definitely expecting someone not attractive to her at all.

Taking the open seat in the booth beside her, he sat down and looked over to Sadie and Michael. Pulling herself back together, Jude nodded her head across the table and introduced them. "This is my sister Sadie, and her fiancé Michael."

Caleb nodded while reaching across the table, shaking Sadie's hand first, then Michael's. "Good to meet both of you."

"So you're a fan of Jude's music." Michael stated, opening up a topic of conversation.

"Yeah. I mean, on a regular basis, I probably listen to hard rock more than anything, but Jude's music kinda… I don't know, it's different, more real, I guess. The lyrics get to me."

She was blushing, she could feel it, as she muttered a soft thanks to his comment and was thankful the waitress came to take their drinks. "Hey folks, can I start you off with something to drink here?" she asked.

"I'll take a glass of lemonade," Sadie ordered first.

Glancing to Michael next, he ordered, "I'll have a beer, please."

"One beer," the waitress said aloud as she wrote down the drinks. "And you, miss?"

"I'll have a lemonade as well." Jude replied, as the waitress looked to Caleb.

"You wouldn't happen to serve Lemon Cello would you?" he asked sweetly, as the waitress sadly shook her head.

"Sorry dear. We don't." she replied as Caleb nodded in understanding.

"I'll just make it simple and order a beer as well." He said with a smile.

The waitress dismissed herself and Michael was the first to ask, "Lemon Cello? It an alcoholic drink?"

Nodding, "Yea. It's real good, you should try it sometime."

Curious to know, Jude shifted a bit to look at him better as she asked, "How old are you?"

"Twenty four." He answered before asking, "You're twenty one, right?"

Jude nodded. "Yeah. Birthday was in April."

A grin came across his face as he replied, "Mine too. How weird is that?"

Jude chuckled before saying, "I've never met anyone else who's had a birthday in April. That's what's weird."

The waitress returned with their drinks and took their orders and let the four continue to chat. They learned that Caleb was going to med school for the same reasons Aaron was—their mother. He wanted to race cars, whether NASCAR or street, it didn't matter. His father before he took off without a word had taught him just about anything he needed to know on building cars, and that's what he did best.

"I've got a Mustang that's got so much money invested in it right now…" Caleb said while taking a bite of his pizza. "It's insane."

Swallowing her own bite Jude asked, "How do you afford all the parts if you still go to school?"

"Races." He answered. "I know they're illegal, and dangerous, but it pays for it in the end. I have my car, and I _love_ my car."

"I have a mustang, but it's way old." Jude told him. "My old manager fixed it up for me, but nothing to race with."

Sadie let out a chuckle. "You better not race that thing. If the race doesn't kill you first I will."

Holding his hand up to explain first, Caleb said to Jude while looking at Sadie, "Not in a race, but—" turning his gaze to Jude, he offered, "—if you want I'll take ya out sometime in my mustang. Go on a back road and I'll show you how fast it can go—I mean you _feel_ the power in that thing."

A smile she couldn't hold back was spread over her face as she looked into his eyes answering, "I'd love to."

She wasn't sure if they were in a moment or not, but their waitress definitely ruined it if they were. "Okay guys, here's your bill. If you need anything else let me know. It's always a pleasure seeing Petey's filled with known faces here."

Jude smiled at the old lady before asking, "Who else is here?"

Nodding a few booths to Jude's back the waitress answered, "Tom Quincy's back there. Been here for a while now."

Jude couldn't remember ever moving that fast as she turned in her seat and looked over the back of the booth toward the back wall where Tommy was sitting. Michael and Sadie both stood up as well and stupidly Michael asked, "Is that Calie?"

The name hit Jude like a hard brick and she was frozen in place, watching Tommy interact with the mystery girl whom Michael had identified as his ex girlfriend. The one he'd been seeing when she returned from London. The model. The girl that was everything she wasn't.

Throwing her hand at Michael's chest, Sadie shot him a glare, not believing he had said that with Jude right there. However before Sadie could chew out Michael, Jude said, "You've got to be shitting me." Before crawling over the booth to the vacant one behind her and out onto the floor.

"Jude!" Sadie called after her, but Jude was determined and in no way stopping her actions as she marched down to Tommy's booth.

When Jude and Tommy started dating again, Calie was only discussed once when she had asked who he had been dating, and World War III erupted. Out of all the people he had to seriously be involved with, he had to choose a model? Jude was outraged, but in the end, couldn't fight him on it when she'd left him thinking she was never coming back.

Yet seeing Calie in a 'Famous Stars and Straps' add, and seeing her in real life was two different things. She was definitely model type with a small waist, curvy figure, big boobs—the whole deal. She had thick brown hair that ran to the middle part of her back, and shaped her face to point out the angelic features she was born with.

Her eyes were probably what Jude was most jealous over. They were a deep blue, almost like the ocean and in every picture she'd seen her in, they stood out more than anything. While walking up to the two of them, Calie had been laughing at something Tommy had said, Jude assumed. Her hand was covering her mouth and Tommy was fighting back his own laughter when Jude approached the table.

"Hi." She said quickly. Looking over the two, she saw the surprise in both their features. Sure, Calie recognized her, Jude saw the shock and somewhat panic overcome her, as for Tommy looked like he was ready to shit himself.

He opened his mouth to say something, but Jude held up her hand and beat him to the punch. "Save it. I just came over to say it's okay." She said, keeping herself together before she started to scream. Her eyes landed on Tommy's. "I'm fine with…" waving her hands between the two of them she finished with, "This is okay. Be happy with each other."

"Jude," Tommy said, finally cutting in and feeling Calie's gaze burn him knowing she was wondering what he was going to say.

"No." Jude quickly said while stepping to the side and pointing down to her own booth in which Sadie, Michael and Caleb were all looking down to her from. "I'm on a date too, see. It's okay."

Hearing she was on a date nearly made him jump out of his seat, except he was too frozen to do so. Too in shock to do anything other than eye the little punk sitting across from Sadie. "You're on a date?" he asked, hoping he'd heard her wrong.

Her head nodded assuredly. "Yep. And it's okay for you too. Don't be shy, spread the word, Tommy. I'm fine with it." Before he could say anything, Jude turned on her heel and walked back to her booth where Caleb scooted over, and Jude sat closely beside him.

"Who was that?" Caleb asked, as Jude plopped down in her seat.

Shaking her head, she said, "Just an old friend."

Caleb looked over his shoulder to Tommy and luckily caught his gaze, seeing it angry and bothered. A chuckle left his lips as he looked back to the table, "You sure about that? He looks pissed."

Occupying herself with a straw wrapper, Jude said, "Good," before Sadie cleared her throat.

"I think we should get outta here." She said as Michael nodded quickly.

Caleb looked down to Jude, seeing her silently nod as she continued to pick at the straw wrapper. Clearing his throat, he got everyone's attention before saying, "Well, you guys should come over to my place this weekend. I'm having a pool party and a big barbeque."

Sadie, who was sliding out of the booth with Michael close behind her, looked to Jude to see what she wanted to do. Abandoning her current activity, she caught Sadie's eye, but quickly looked to Caleb, nodding her head. "Sure. That'd be great."

His face lit up as he looked to Sadie and Michael also nodding that they'd come. "Awesome. Uh, here," he said while grabbing a pen and a napkin. "Here's my number, just give me a call and I'll tell you how to get to my place."

Jude took the napkin with a smile before scooting out of the booth. "And if you wanna chat or something, you can call too." He added on while sliding out as well and standing before her. Needing to look up a bit to see him, it only made him more attractive at how he looked down to her with that sweet smirk on his face. "My cell's always on me."

"Oh—okay." She stuttered out, watching him drop two twenty's on the table to take care of the bill.

He saw her start to object, but held his hand up and said, "My treat." Before leaning down and gently kissing her cheek. "Thanks for taking the time to meet me."

When Jude had walked into the apartment, she was thankful to find it quiet as she hurried down the hall to her bedroom. Seeing Tommy with Calie… Tears rushed to her eyes and she hated herself for breaking down over him so easily. As her bedroom door closed behind her, she walked the last few steps to her bed and collapsed on top of it, letting her tears and sobs go free.

Why had she done that? What point was she trying to prove? Was it a way to avoid having to hear it elsewhere? She didn't even know, but she was so heartbroken, she couldn't believe how fast he was already with Calie again. What had she done to deserve losing him so quickly?

And Caleb… God why Aaron had to have the most perfect roommate she didn't know. Over lunch he'd made her laugh, made her blush, and made her feel things that she thought only Tommy was possible of. He made her want to spend time with him, talk to him, hang out with him, but it still didn't help the fact that she wanted those same things from Tommy and so much more.

The following days drug on, but Charlie, Zepp and Sadie tried to cheer Jude up as much as possible, watching movies and trying to take her mind as far off from Tommy as possible, and for the most part it was working. All four spread out amongst the couch and chairs in their living room, while Sadie gave a recap of their day out earlier that week.

"He was gorgeous." Sadie said, hearing Zepp squeal.

"Jude, you should so go to the party! Don't back out."

Looking to Zepp, she caught Charlie roll her eyes behind her, and had to chuckle. "I don't think I'm going to back out." And a smile she couldn't hide came over her features. "I was talking to him last night, and… I want to go."

"Aw," Charlie said while looking up from her texting, "Jude's got a new crush."

Sticking her tongue out, she said, "Ha, ha." before Sadie cut in.

Lightly hitting her sister's shoulder, she said, "It's okay though, Jude. I mean, I even thought the guy would be good for you."

"And you know," Charlie cut in, saying sarcastically, "that Sadie's judgment is everything."

"Well, you guys can come too. He told me to bring some friends if I wanted." Looking up to Sadie, Jude asked, "Are you and Mike still coming?"

Nodding, she said, "Mike's gonna be a little late, he has to run into the studio, but he'll be there. I'll just ride over with you."

"I can come?" Charlie asked, seeing Jude nod in response as her text charm went off. Opening her phone she replied, "Aaron and Speid will be there too right?"

"I'm assuming as much." Jude told her before asking, "Who are you texting?"

Taking the opportunity, Sadie teased, "Ooo, does Charlie have a crush too?"

Sadie's statement was ignored and Charlie's features didn't falter. "It's no one. Don't worry about it."

Jude only shook her head, not pressing the matter. "What about you Zepp? You and Jamie want to come too?"

Sadly she shook her head. "We're meeting some people on Saturday over distribution of Speid's album. We won't be able to make it."

"So it's a pool party?" Charlie cut in, closing her phone after texting her reply. "Are we actually going to swim?"

Jude shrugged, "I don't know. Every time I've been around a pool with Speid I've been thrown in it, so I'm prepared I'll be in the water at least once during the party."

"Maybe your new boy toy will throw you in." Charlie said with a wiggle to her eyebrows.

Chuckling, Jude shook her head, "He's not my boy toy." but her response was met with giggles from the girls. "He's not! It's just a new friend to talk to."

Instead of her texting charm going off, Charlie's ring tone went off, the lyrics of Sugarcult filled the room. _**(I'm bouncing off the walls again, whoa-oh. And I'm looking like a fool again, whoa-oh. Waking up on the—)**_

"Hey," Charlie answered before getting up and leaving the room. "What's up?"

"Yeah, no crush there." Jude remarked, receiving a middle finger from Charlie as she walked up the circular stairwell to her bedroom. Turning her attention back to Sadie and Zepp, she asked, "Well, how do you guys feel about swimsuit shopping then?"

Jude, Sadie and Charlie strolled into Caleb's backyard around one o clock that Saturday. The yard itself was huge with a large swimming pool in the middle. A nice patio was near the gate with a built in barbeque and outdoor kitchen, totally fit for the partying yard. Aaron, who was with Speid and Caleb instantly spotted Jude, and got the other guys attention before walking over to them.

"Dude!" Speid called, "'Bout time you showed up."

Caleb let out an uneasy chuckle, "For a while I didn't think you were gonna show."

Once again, seeing him before her got Jude all quiet as she overlooked how good he looked. Wearing a plain white beater and green swim trunks, she noticed the muscles in his arms shaped well—the man was just sexy. Nothing else.

Arms open for a hug, Jude graciously gave him one and instantly felt her cheeks warm again. "I'd never turn down a party." She said as the embrace broke.

He smiled down to her and kept his arm around her shoulder while beginning to walk further into the party. "C'mon, I'll introduce you to some of my family."

Sadie watched Jude walk away with Caleb and put a smile on her face. She'd been down the road before when Tommy started to date Calie, and had to except that as long as their happy… She has to be happy for them. Aaron also watched the two walk away as Speid and Charlie were caught up in conversation.

"He's a good guy, right?" she asked, and Aaron nodded.

Looking to Sadie he told her, "He gets good grades in his classes, he's responsible. I mean, really the only time I've ever seen him in trouble was when he got in a fight on campus with this other guy. I think it was over a street race the night before. Caleb won, the other guy tried to cheat—I'm not too sure."

Nodding she took it in and let out a breath, accepting that Jude and Tommy may move on from each other after all. Switching her attention back to Aaron she let out a small laugh. "So how much did that hurt?" she asked referring to the lip ring.

His hand went up to the ring, pierced through his skin on the bottom left corner of his lip. "I actually didn't feel it." Laughing, he added on, "But I sure did feel when my Mom smacked me upside my head."

The party had been going on for a few hours now and Jude hadn't left Caleb's side once. They spent most of the time in their own conversation in which Jude had confessed who Tommy really was. Caleb had gotten a little upset that she'd lied to him, but blew it off, when Jude had told him what she'd said to him. He even got her to open up about their break up.

Caleb also confessed a lot of his background about his parents. His father was a junkie and left when Caleb was thirteen. His mother was a doctor, which wasn't exactly the best match, but his parents had only been married for Caleb's sake when his father got his mother pregnant. They had opened up to each other like they were strangers in a chat room, confessing things neither expected to tell the other so quickly, but it was okay. Jude was actually enjoying his company and support.

As they walked around the perimeter of the pool, the current song that had been playing ended, and the following took Jude completely by surprise. Her walk had stopped as did her heart when the familiar acoustic chords entered her ears.

_**(Sha. Sha. Sha.)**_

Nervously she looked around and spotted Speid and Charlie goofing around over by the stereo. Caleb was trying to snap her from her thoughts, but nothing could at that moment. She'd been honest with him and told him what Tommy meant to her, and of all songs to be played after words was this one?

_**(I probably shouldn't say this, but at times I get so scared. When I think about the previous relationship we shared.)**_

"This you singing?" Caleb asked, recognizing her voice but not the song.

_**(It was awesome, but we lost it, it's not possible for me, not to care.)**_

Answering him, she quickly said, "Unfortunately." Before beginning her way to Charlie. "I'll be right back."

_**(And now we're standin' in the rain, and nothing's ever going to change until you hear, my dear.)**_

A million and one thoughts ran through her head at that moment. How had the song been recorded, when had it been produced? Why did Charlie decide to play this song out of the many Jude had?

_**(The seven things I hate about you!)**_

She had to admit that song was well put together, but was never supposed to go public. It was kiddy writing—just for fun, nothing for an album or radio and yet there it played for the many people at the party to hear.

_**(The seven things I hate about you, oh you!)**_

"Charlie!" she called, grabbing her attention quickly. "What are you doing!? Are you insane?!"

Looking at her curiously, she asked, "What? You don't like it?"

_**(You're vain, your games, you're insecure! You love me, you like her! You make me laugh, you make me cry, I don't know which side to buy.)**_

"How did this even get recorded?! When did you put it together?" Jude demanded, "I just told Caleb the truth about Tommy and then this song comes on right after words! He's gonna get mad."

"Whoa, Jude calm down." Speid cut in, "Who's to say it's about Quincy?"

_**(Your friends, they're jerks when you act like them, just know it hurts!)**_

"You're kidding, right?" Charlie asked, proving Jude's point. Looking to Jude she apologized, "I'm sorry, but hey, it's just a song. A song you wrote before you met Caleb, so he can chill."

_**(I wanna be, with the one I know.)**_

"But this song says how I still love Tommy," her hand furiously was thrown in the direction of Caleb as she finished, "and Caleb thinks I'm over him!"

_**(And the seventh thing, I hate the most that you do—o. You make me love you.)**_

The music calmed down, but Jude didn't. She was stressing major over this, but she didn't want to start a relationship based off lies, which this song was making her seem like she was.

"Okay, what do you want me to do? Cut the song?" Charlie asked, playing Jude's game.

_**(It's awkward and silent, as I wait for you to say. 'Cause what I need to hear now, is your sincere apology.)**_

Standing there, she wasn't sure what she wanted. Cutting the song would just make her current state more suspicious, but she didn't want him to think she was still in love with Tommy when she believed it was possible she could fall for Caleb too.

_**(When you mean it, I'll believe it. If you text it, I'll delete it, lets be clear. Oh I'm not comin' back. You're taking, seven steps, here.)**_

The music picked up its pace once again as Jude looked over her shoulder seeing Caleb standing in the same spot. The look on his face a bit upset and she was pretty certain she knew why.

(The seven things I hate about you! You're vain, your games, you're insecure! You love me, you like her! You make me laugh, you make me cry, I don't know which side to buy.)

"Here, I have an idea," Speid said, catching Jude's attention.

_**(You're friends, they're jerks when you act like them, just know it hurts. I wanna be, with the one I know.)**_

Looking to Speid, she said, "I'm listening."

_**(And the seventh thing, I hate the most that you do,)**_

He looked around and thankfully spotted a guitar and went over to pick it up. "What's he doing?" Jude heard Charlie ask, but Jude had a good idea what.

_**(You make me love you.)**_

"He's causing a distraction." Jude answered, watching Speid get the guitar and begin to hook it to the amplifier.

_**(And compared to all the great things that would take too long to write, I probably should mention, the seven that I like.)**_

The music paused for a moment and Jude held her breath as she saw Speid connect the guitar to the amplifier.

_**(The seven things I like about—)**_

And just in time, her song was history as Speid stood atop a large amplifier, playing an opening to a song she was unfamiliar of. Hopping off the amp, the entire party turned their attention toward him as he hopped up on the counter in the patio.

"_Hangin' out behind the club on the weekend! Actin' stupid, gettin' drunk with my best friends. I couldn't wait for the summer and the warped tour, I remember it's the first time that I saw here there_!"

Speid began playing the opening chords once more as he danced along the counter top, seeing Caleb even paying attention to him, and he hoped, not thinking of the song. "_She's getting kicked out of school 'cause she's failing, I'm kinda nervous 'cause I think all her friends hate me. She's the one, she'll always be there. She took my hand and that moment I swear,"_

His gaze stayed on one person in the crowd more than others, but Jude tried to think of an excuse as to why. Following his gaze he saw it land directly on Charlie and Jude nearly lost her breath, especially when the following words left his mouth.

"_Because I fell! In! Love! With the girl at the rock show. She! Said! What! And I told her that I didn't know. She's! So! Cool! Got me sneaking through her window."_ His guitar playing slowed down a bit as he calmly finished the chorus with, _"Everything's better when she's around, I can't wait till her parents go out of town. I fell in love, with the girl, at the rock show!"_

Moving from her current spot, Jude made her way to a bashfully smiling Charlie. "Oh Charlie," Jude called in a sing song tone. Catching her eye she said, "I believe we need to talk here."

Looking to Jude, she tried to hide her smile as Speid continued playing his guitar. "About?" she asked casually.

"_Black and white picture of her on my wall, I waited for her call. She always kept, me, waiting."_ As Speid sang on, Jude caught the stolen glances more freely between the two and how Charlie was trying to hide it from Jude.

Playing the hook of the song he continued to sing the catchy tune, keeping the crowd of the party totally enthralled in his performance. _"And if I ever got another chance. I'd still ask her to dance. Because she kept me, waiting."_

"Is there something going on between you and Mr. Speiderman?" Jude asked knowingly, and for Speid's sake, she hoped she was wrong.

Charlie let out a frustrated sigh, as she heard Speid jump into the final chorus of the song, contemplating her answer for Jude. _"I, fell! In! Love! With the girl at the rock show. She! Said! What! And I told her that I didn't know. She's! So! Cool! Got me sneakin' through her window. Everything's better, when. She's. Around! I can't wait till her parents go. Out. Of. Town! I fell in love. With the girl at the rock show!"_

"We may have hit it off a little the other night." She confessed, and Jude couldn't believe her ears.

Pausing a moment to keep her calm, she asked, "Hit it off how?"

"_With the girl at the rock show."_ Speid repeated, playing the intro notes to the song, finishing it off.

Charlie let out a defeated sigh before looking to Jude. "You were honest with me, I should be honest with you."

Nodding her head, Jude tried to hide her anger as she said, "Yeah. Honesty would be nice here, considering he's committing adultery!"

That definitely caught Charlie's attention as her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "Excuse me!?"

"_With the girl at the rock show!"_ His eyes caught site of Charlie and Jude talking, and felt a wave of nerves stab him in his gut. _"With the girl at the rock show. I'll, never. Forget. That. Night."_

"Speiderman is married. To Karma. The third Instant Star winner." Jude explained, unsure if Charlie was really that oblivious, or if she was trying to play dumb.

Closing her eyes, Charlie was now trying to calm herself as she fisted her hands at her sides and said, "Somebody could have told me he was married before I let him shove his tongue in my mouth!"

"He didn't tell you? You didn't know?!" Jude asked in disbelief, and as if her current predicament couldn't get any worse, Caleb joined her side with an unsure expression on his face as she caught Speid hurrying his way over as well.

Throwing her hands up, irritated, Charlie replied, "Sorry I'm not one of the fifty million people that subscribe to US Weekly and keep up with these kind of things!"

"What kind of things?" Caleb asked, curious to what had both girls so riled up.

However, before Caleb could get an answer, Speid finally pushed his way through the last bit of the crowd and joined Charlie by her side. "Charlie—"

"You're married!?" she yelled at him and quickly read the truth over his expression. "I can't believe you!"

Putting his hands up, he quickly told her, "I can explain—really, please hear me out, here."

"I've gotta hear this." Jude said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Charlie looked to Jude and then back to Speid, before nodding him a go to explain. He was more than thankful she was allowing him to talk, but it wasn't a conversation he wanted to have in front of Jude. It was a trust issue or comfort issue, but he didn't want to let her down, and he knew he had. Glancing to Jude his expression was almost all she needed to know he wanted to be left alone.

Uncrossing her arms, Jude turned to Caleb and took his hand. "We need to talk."

Speid was thankful for Jude's understanding as he was left alone to explain to Charlie exactly how married he was. "So you know I'm married."

Nodding, she bitterly replied, "Woulda been nice if I was told at the concert. Course it all makes sense now why you wanted to keep it quiet."

"Charlie," he sighed, defeated.

"Don't. I'm sorry I even met you." She told him before turning to leave. However, Speid called after her, his words causing her anger to slowly dissipate.

"But I'm not sorry I met you." He said, putting her walk to a pause. "My marriage…" Scoffing, he shook his head. "It was a disaster since the day we said I do. Didja know the only reason I got married was because my girlfriend at the time wanted publicity and had me stage a wedding for her?"

Looking back to him, she saw the pain in his eyes as he continued to tell her of his relationship with Karma. "She wasn't on the paparazzi's spotlight and we faked a wedding, but it turned out the guy who married us actually did it legally. MTV found out, threw us into reality TV and all this time I've gone along with it just to make sure she's happy, but I'm not."

"Speid," Charlie said, "It doesn't change the fact that what you're doing is wrong."

"Staying married to Karma was wrong. Agreeing to be on 'Rock and Roll Honeymoon' was wrong. Not divorcing her when I had the chance was wrong, but you… You're the first thing that's seemed right in my life in a very long time."

Looking away at his words, deep down she felt the same way about him. At the show he'd been so easy to talk to, had made her laugh, made her feel special. They'd snuck to the back after a while to grab a drink from the bar, but didn't find their way back right away. She'd kissed him and like Speid said about her… It was the first thing that had felt right in years.

"My marriage is a broken record, and I won't be surprised the day Karma comes home with divorce papers. You've taken my mind off that pain though, so please… Don't walk away."

Caleb's heart had been racing in his chest since Jude grabbed his hand and kept hold of it as they walked around the yard. Saying they needed to talk worried him at first, but when she'd grabbed his hand, it gave him a form of security he was thankful for. "Caleb…" she said tentatively. "I'm not over my ex, and you should know that."

Nodding his head, he gave her a simple, "Okay." before waiting for her to continue on.

She'd been hoping for more of a reaction than that, but went with what she had and carried on. "The song… I'd wrote it before I met you. I don't want you thinking that I'm involving myself with you, and turning around to write songs about Tommy, 'cause I'm not. He broke my heart and I'm trying to get over him. I don't want you to think that I'm using you to do that though." Letting out a nervous giggle, she said, "Meeting you at the time was just a plus."

He stopped walking when she finished, some-what jerking her back in place, for she still held onto his hand. Lightly tugging her in to stand before him, he looked down at her before bravely lowering his lips to hers. His hand released hers as both took a gently hold of her face, and was more than happy when he felt her kiss him back. The kiss was soft, and sweet, and when he pulled away, he couldn't hold back the smile on his face.

Slowly lowering her feet back to the ground from standing on her tip toes, Jude's eyes gradually opened and they instantly found Caleb's. "What… What was that for?"

He took her hands in his own before telling her, "That was for you letting me know that you seem just as happy you met me as I am that I met you." Watching her cheeks begin to turn a shade of pink, he went on, "That was for you already being scared of what I think enough to defend yourself over a song."

Her eyes fell to the ground as a smile fought it's way past her lips as she heard him finish with, "That was me thanking you for letting me walk into your life, and hopefully not walk out for a long, long time."

Looking up to him, she showed her smile, before stepping into him, and leaning up to press her lips back on his. One hand gently was placed on his shoulder as the other sat on his neck, while his own arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her close to him. When the kiss had broken this time, Caleb kept his hold around her as he asked, "And what was that for?"

A large grin came over her features before she answered, "For not leaving Aaron alone until he introduced us."

Leaning down once more, Caleb kissed her again, and as Jude was lost within the kiss, she decided that maybe getting over Tommy wouldn't be as bad as she thought it would. Especially if getting over him felt as good as this.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x:**X**:x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"_You speak and make time stand still."_


End file.
